For those of you who were unable to attend our annual luncheon this year, below is a video that accompanied Shalini's and Ana's presentation on the 8th Grade Mission. You'll hear their voices narrating the action after the intro. Enjoy!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
8th Grade's Philosophy About Homework Revisited
In response to a parent email about 8th grade homework, Darin, Bert and I realized that it might be appropriate to reiterate our shared approach to homework, first presented at September's Curriculum Night – seeing as we pretty much share a brain with regards to our attitudes and policies towards that rather controversial topic. (Just hearken back to the Seattle PI’s 2006 front page coverage of the debate among pundits on this hot topic!) Basically we are in agreement with educational researcher and analyst, Dr. Alfie Kohn, as well as others who question the efficacy of "homework for homework's sake." (See http://www.alfiekohn.org/books/hm.htm if you're not familiar with Dr. Kohn's work and/or you're interested in learning more. I do own a coveted copy of his latest book, "The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing" which I'd be willing to share with those who want more after investigating the website!) According to Kohn's (et al) survey of the research, studies show that prior to high school, homework has, at best, a neutral effect, while other studies indicate that it has a detrimental effect on learning as well as students’ intrinsic motivation to learn. There are no studies showing any positive effects of regular homework prior to high school.
As we see it, whether or not a given student will get anything meaningful out of homework depends on three factors:
1. the cognitive/emotional maturity of the student as she seeks to investigate information through homework (usually through an independent learning experience)
2. the meaningfulness/ appropriateness of the type of work assigned as homework (...this is individual as well.) Can the student accomplish the assigned tasks without adult/parental intervention AND does it seem intrinsically meaningful to the student and thus worthy of her after-school energy?
3. the quantity of assigned homework such that it does not detract from other significant areas of life...like family relationships, sleep, exercise, and very important "down time."
Interestingly enough, (and at the risk of promoting my own agenda!) three types of homework manage to make it through the research gauntlet: independent, student-selected reading (as in the independent reading program that we run in 8th grade through our Reading Workshop), projects that require students to directly and meaningfully interact with family members (as in the interviews some 8th graders have chosen to conduct with family members for various projects), and the occasional continuation of a process/project begun in class (such as the continuation of peer editing, or the practice or completion of math/science problems that have been thoroughly explained in class, for example...)
Thus, you should not have seen an impressive amount of "homework for homework's sake" coming home with your 8th grader this year (other than the type of considerations mentioned above.) We believe that in our shared eight hours each day, we should be able to accomplish the academic tasks and intellectual explorations we've assigned ourselves. We echo the Roman physician, Galen's dictum: "Primum non nocere" - "First, do no harm!" with regards to homework, and value not only family time but also family relations (which copious amounts of demanding homework tend to undermine.)
As always, do feel free to communicate with any or all of us about this or any other issue, concern or appreciation.
(Note: At the risk of contradicting myself with regards to homework, I do expect that each SGS 8th grader is actively maintaining her Word-of-the-Day journal with an entry for each day that school is in session…AND the thirty minutes of reading per day expectation remains firmly in place!)
As we see it, whether or not a given student will get anything meaningful out of homework depends on three factors:
1. the cognitive/emotional maturity of the student as she seeks to investigate information through homework (usually through an independent learning experience)
2. the meaningfulness/ appropriateness of the type of work assigned as homework (...this is individual as well.) Can the student accomplish the assigned tasks without adult/parental intervention AND does it seem intrinsically meaningful to the student and thus worthy of her after-school energy?
3. the quantity of assigned homework such that it does not detract from other significant areas of life...like family relationships, sleep, exercise, and very important "down time."
Interestingly enough, (and at the risk of promoting my own agenda!) three types of homework manage to make it through the research gauntlet: independent, student-selected reading (as in the independent reading program that we run in 8th grade through our Reading Workshop), projects that require students to directly and meaningfully interact with family members (as in the interviews some 8th graders have chosen to conduct with family members for various projects), and the occasional continuation of a process/project begun in class (such as the continuation of peer editing, or the practice or completion of math/science problems that have been thoroughly explained in class, for example...)
Thus, you should not have seen an impressive amount of "homework for homework's sake" coming home with your 8th grader this year (other than the type of considerations mentioned above.) We believe that in our shared eight hours each day, we should be able to accomplish the academic tasks and intellectual explorations we've assigned ourselves. We echo the Roman physician, Galen's dictum: "Primum non nocere" - "First, do no harm!" with regards to homework, and value not only family time but also family relations (which copious amounts of demanding homework tend to undermine.)
As always, do feel free to communicate with any or all of us about this or any other issue, concern or appreciation.
(Note: At the risk of contradicting myself with regards to homework, I do expect that each SGS 8th grader is actively maintaining her Word-of-the-Day journal with an entry for each day that school is in session…AND the thirty minutes of reading per day expectation remains firmly in place!)
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Geometry in Skoolaborate
We are finishing our work in math this year with a unit on Geometry to both change it up a bit and to make sure they are ready for starting math next year. The girls were really excited to jump in and dig up their rusty knowledge of how to determine things like perimeter, area, and volume. After reviewing the basic concepts and formulas, we dove into Skoolaborate to put these skills to use in analyzing some 3D shapes, while simultaneously learning a little more about how to work with them in this virtual environment. At left, you see a picture of me floating over a field of cubes, pyramids, and rectangular solids that the girls worked with earlier in the day. We're having fun and many are getting to meet kids from all over the world while we're at it.
Friday, April 17, 2009
SIFF at SGS
We had a lot of fun yesterday afternoon, as we were joined by local filmmaker SJ Chiro and Dustin Kaspar, who heads education programs for the Seattle International Film Festival. They did the first in a series of filmmaking workshops they'll be doing with us. This one focused on using improv techniques to develop character and plot ideas. They'll be coming back in following weeks to work with us on writing for screen, how to rehearse well, and how to stage camera shots. The girls had a great time yesterday with SJ and learned some great techniques that we're able to put right to use.
Learning to Skoolaborate
We got introduced to a great, new learning space yesterday. The 8th grade is partnering with the World Affairs Council and few other local school programs in joining an international virtual worlds educational collaboration. This program, called Skoolaborate, was started a couple of years ago in Australia and has spread to over 40 schools in a dozen countries around the world. The program invites students to create an avatar for themselves and participate in a common virtual world (think 3D gaming environment, but set up for learning).
Individual schools are hosting a wide variety of different learning modules in-world and many involve connecting with other schools and students from around the globe. Here in the 8th grade, we are going to be extending our work in GAOC, math, and PPD into this environment and are also hoping to share our work with other schools and foster some cross-cultural conversations.
This whole program uses a software program and networking platform called Second Life, and more specifically we will be in the world Teen Second Life (TSL). This world is restricted to only people under 18 years of age, except for adults who do a background check with them and are restricted to "private islands." The Skoolaborate program itself operates on a set of these "private islands" and the only people who are allowed on these islands are the teachers and students participating in the program. Students, since they are teens, are allowed to wander throughout TSL, though we teachers are restricted as adults to just the Skoolaborate islands.
In starting this up, we reinforced our conversations with the girls from the beginning of the year about online safety, privacy, and appropriate behavior. Since this is a learning environment that can be used from home as well as from school, we encourage you to ask your daughters to show you what they're up to as we get going.
Individual schools are hosting a wide variety of different learning modules in-world and many involve connecting with other schools and students from around the globe. Here in the 8th grade, we are going to be extending our work in GAOC, math, and PPD into this environment and are also hoping to share our work with other schools and foster some cross-cultural conversations.
This whole program uses a software program and networking platform called Second Life, and more specifically we will be in the world Teen Second Life (TSL). This world is restricted to only people under 18 years of age, except for adults who do a background check with them and are restricted to "private islands." The Skoolaborate program itself operates on a set of these "private islands" and the only people who are allowed on these islands are the teachers and students participating in the program. Students, since they are teens, are allowed to wander throughout TSL, though we teachers are restricted as adults to just the Skoolaborate islands.
In starting this up, we reinforced our conversations with the girls from the beginning of the year about online safety, privacy, and appropriate behavior. Since this is a learning environment that can be used from home as well as from school, we encourage you to ask your daughters to show you what they're up to as we get going.
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