Are you sure you are correct in the mandate or the
administration is correct in the mandate?

While 80min/night of total homework sounds reasonable, what
you are describing is 80 min/night/class. Or are they just
mandating LA homework. Otherwise, even with block days that
is 4 x 80 = 320 min/night 5 hours of homework a night?

On 11/06/09, trying to get by wrote:
> I need some serious advice fast! I don't want this thread
> to turn into a debate about homework because I can't do
> anything about having to assign it. I just need to get
> people off my back.
>
> I teach 8th grade language arts and have for five years.
> Our district has decided to mandate homework and follow the
> guideline of 10 minutes x student grade level. That
> obviously means my 8th graders should have 80 minutes per
> night.
>
> I don't agree with this whole thing but I won't get into
> the reasons since they don't matter. My problem is I am
> continually being called on the carpet about the amount and
> quality of homework I give. (Some of the other teachers
> don't even give it, while I give it Monday-Thursday without
> fail).
>
> Not as an excuse, but to provide a little background info:
> urban setting, 98% qualify for free lunch, most of the
> lower achievers don't even do the homework (or they just
> copy it). Telling them to "read a book" for 30 minutes a
> night is nearly impossible to enforce. They don't have
> books and I've lost far too many of my own by lending them
> out. Many of them live in conditions that are
> counterproductive to getting any kind of quality work done,
> to put it mildly. If I give work that's tailored to their
> reading level, I get in trouble for giving them below-grade-
> level work.
>
> The textbook doesn't go home. We use it in class as the
> guided-reading part of our day. There's nothing in the book
> I'd be comfortable having them read on their own, anyway;
> its purpose is for it to be used in class for whole-group
> or small-group instruction.
>
> Our students perform poorly on standardized tests and
> they're usually weaker in reading non-fiction. So what I
> give is usually a one-page nonfiction reading selection
> from a reproducible book (grade level and aligned to
> national standards). The back has questions they have to
> answer. This should take them about 20 minutes and I don't
> think I should have to give them 80 minutes per night all
> on my own. They have math, social studies, and science
> classes as well as language arts.
>
> Last night the principal worked with a student in an after-
> school program and because she helped him, it took them
> only 10 minutes. So she came at my throat about it this
> morning. That's a whole other issue, of course and it
> happens ALL THE TIME, but right now I need to know what
> other teachers assign as meaningful (yet time consuming)
> language arts homework. What on earth can I give them that
> should take them 30-50 minutes to complete? Do I need to
> give them THREE of these story/question sheets each night?
> Am I missing something simple I could be doing and working
> harder, not smarter?
>
> Any help would be welcomed.
>
> Cathy
>

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