Parental Involvement In Home-Work
Are students in your doing the home-work that is assigned to them? Are parents actively involved in assisting their children with home-work? These two questions are very important since the answers to them can have quite an impact on students' performance and motivation in the classroom.In my experience as an educator I have found that most students in my school do not attempt the home-work and in many cases they are reluctant to ask their parents for help.The majority of these students are performing poorly because they have little or no support at home. This is reflected in low self-esteem, lack of motivation, high levels of indiscipline and a general defeatist approach to the work process at school.
Research has shown that parents can become involved in their children's education through homework (Hoover-Demsey, Walker, & Sandler, 2001). These researchers have suggested the following ways to facilitate this involvement:
- Communicate with your child's teacher regularly about performance and progress.
- Schedule regular times for assignments and structure it within the flow of family life.
- Monitoring of assignments.
- Give rewards for efforts, completion and corrections where necessary.
- Actively help students in the process of completing assignments.
- Assist students in the interpretation of assignments.
Have you ever wondered whether the parents of your students are literate? Many of the parents today cannot assist their children with their homework. In many instances it is not because they do not want to it is simply a case of not knowing how to. Many of these parents did not finish school. Many of them struggled with reading as a child ,many of them came from backgrounds where there was no emphasis on literacy. Some of these parents strive on the fact that they are single parents and have to go to work. Many of them are not even at home to see what is being done at school far more to even offer to assist. All these reasons are why we as teachers need to show an even greater interest in our students. We have to assume the role of the absentee parent, the delinquent parent and the parent who just can't help . We can help out even more by making the homework child friendly so that the students can master the work by themselves.
ReplyDeleteHeather Palmer- Ovid
I can't agree with you more,Heather.Thank You.Many times we blame the parents too much.Lots of scholars and professionals today have said openly that there parents were illiterate.What needs to be done is for us teachers and the ministry to educate our parents. Presently, my school has a programme where we teach our parents.Some parents dont show up because they are ashamed or too busy.It is bearing fruit so far.Thank God.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Roxanne and Heather that some parents need the help to become literate themselves. However, parents need not help all the time but give support to the children and ensure that the homework gets done. I know under these circumstances that the homework may not be correct but the effort the student make will be appreciated by the teacher.
ReplyDeleteSchools need to establish homework policies as one student in secondary school may be swamped with homework for five to six subjects everyday. The duration of time needed to spend each assignment adds up. Schools need to put timeframes on the homework duration for the different levels and look at the type of homework being assigned. Students do get frustrated, just as we are frustrated when we have lots of assignment to complete.
When I read Micheal blog, the first thing that came to mind is if the parents cannot read can they help. It is a sad situation and a bit frustrating to know that our students cannot get the help that is needed at home. Have you ever look at the excuses that is written by parents? You would be shocked and bewildered and you would begin to understand why the child is having so much problems.
ReplyDeleteThat why a homework center needs to be in all schools, the only problem is who will be in charge after school. BPTT was part of a pilot homework center a few years ago and it was successful I know because I taught at the school. Anyway something has to be done quickly or we could stop giving homework. No way that would be very sad!