Gator Run Friday Focus - November 6, 2015

What an amazing visit this week from the principals and K and 1 teachers from our Sub-Cadre.  Thank you to all of the teachers whose rooms we visited.  The biggest compliments were for the rooms that we visited in which the students were responsible for their own learning.  In those rooms, teachers were either working with a small group of students while the other students were involved in meaningful independent work or the entire class was engaged in small groups or individually on their assignments while the teacher circulated throughout the room, providing feedback and asking questions.

I understand that my views on homework are not shared by everyone and I respect that.  To me homework seems to be one of those aspects of school that we perpetuate because "that's the way it's always been done".  I do believe that there can be some meaningful homework, but when we start infiltrating on time that children can and should be spending on family and outside interests to just give busy work, then we are wasting their time.  I'm also not a big fan of preparing them for the workload that they will receive in middle school.  So, because middle school provides an inordinate amount of homework and eats away at students' free time, we have to do the same?  In case you are interested in others who seem to agree with my viewpoints here are some articles on the subject:

Homework: An Unnecessary Evil?

More Parents, Students Saying No to Homework

Forget Homework: t's a waste of time for elementary-school students.

Homework is making our kids miserable: Why the classroom staple is a colossal waste of time

Can You Imagine A World Where You Never Had To Do Homework Ever Again?

Kids have three times too much homework, study finds; what's the cost?

Next Week at a Glance:

• Interims are due to Team Leaders on Monday and to Ms. Felton on Friday.  
• Team Leader Day is on Monday.  
• Field Days for the following grades are next week: Monday - 5th; Tuesday - 3rd; Thursday - 1st; Friday - K.
• No School on Wednesday.
• Report Cards go home on Thursday.
• PLCs are scheduled for Thursday afternoon.  

Website of the Week: Curriculet From their website, Curriculet allows you to embed a layer of questions, quizzes, and rich media annotations into any reading assignment.  You can also track mastery of literacy skills and Common Core standards in real-time.  There is a video on their homepage which explains it a bit better. 

Quote of the Week: Just remember that the person doing the talking is the person doing the learning.