Huge Projects due in one week! UGH!

[robin4kids]

Really I am not against projects. I hate tests. My problem is when teachers assign huge projects a few weeks before school ends and then expect kids to be able to complete them in a weeks time AND study for exams.

Both my 4th grader and 8th grader were assigned projects on Friday. My 4th grader has till THURSDAY to finish the project and my 8th grader has till the 18th. The 8th grade, though is going on a class trip for 3 days next week, so they really only have a week and a half to finish there project.

My 8th grader has to write a news paper with at least SEVEN articles about the 1990's. The articles have to be: 1 science, 1 editorial, 1 obituary, 1 international, 1 local, 2 US. There are all these guild lines for the newspaper as well. Don't get me wrong, it is not a bad assignment, but WHY, WHY did they assign it 1 week before exams? The sun is shining, the birds are singing and we are SO over school and homework.

My 4th grader has to pick a time period in US history and research it. She has to collect all the research and write about it. She also has to make a book about why you might want to visit. She also has to make a FOUR minute oral presentation about what she learned.
We just went to 2 book stores looking for a book she needs and did not find. I am so tired.

Neither of the teachers that assigned these projects have kids. They have NO IDEA how much work goes into these projects. Their time is their time.
I believe these are month long projects. I just don't know what they are thinking.

[imagine21]

Originally Posted by robin4kids

Their time is their time.

While I can't comment on the specific projects or how long it SHOULD take to complete them, as a mother and a teacher, I can assure you that if you think that "their time is their time" you are mistaken. Teachers spend many, many, many hours outside of school grading papers and preparing lesson plans for their students' education without compensation. I could not help but feel offended by this comment, although I know you did not intend the slight.

[sunnmama]

Is this a public or a private school?

Have you spoken to the teachers about the timing concerns?

About the teacher's time--evaluating these projects in the final weeks will take up a lot of their time. It is possible the teacher doesn't control much of the curriculum, and might be very happy to have some parents speak up about the issue.

Also, I support my child with schoolwork, but believe the student's project should be the student's project. If the child is too young to get himself to the bookstore, then the resources should be available in the school library. At least in a public school setting, it isn't fair to assume the parents with have the time, money, and transportation to buy books at last minute.

[EFmom]

Good grief, how I hate the homework in general and the projects in particular.

I'm so sick of spending $$$ in printer ink and craft crap at Michaels. And god forbid, the kids should ever get a long weekend or a vacation that isn't ruined with multiple idiotic projects. My husband is a public school teacher and he hates them more than I do (and he doesn't assign them to his students).

What I hate the most are the projects with some inane unrelated craft tacked on. If my kid wants to do studio art, she can enroll it in. But writing a book report and cutting it up and gluing it to fake sandwich materials doesn't make her learn anything better, doesn't make it "fun" and isn't a good use of her time. It's just stupid.

[FedUpMom]

Please, complain to the teachers. It's shocking how many parents suffer in silence. In my experience most teachers have no idea what these homework projects are like for the families who have to deal with them.

What would happen if you just didn't do the project? I doubt they get 100% participation in any case. How about if you just send an e-mail to the teacher explaining why you won't do the project? It's the end of the year, so she won't even have time to take it out on your child.

I am *so* opposed to these projects, which, on top of eating time and energy, are really assignments for Mom as much as, or more than, the kids. There's no way a normal 4th grader can get through the project you describe without immense support, organizing, and nagging from Mom.

[Emmeline II]

Originally Posted by EFmom

Good grief, how I hate the homework in general and the projects in particular.

I'm so sick of spending $$$ in printer ink and craft crap at Michaels. And god forbid, the kids should ever get a long weekend or a vacation that isn't ruined with multiple idiotic projects. My husband is a public school teacher and he hates them more than I do (and he doesn't assign them to his students).

What I hate the most are the projects with some inane unrelated craft tacked on. If my kid wants to do studio art, she can enroll it in. But writing a book report and cutting it up and gluing it to fake sandwich materials doesn't make her learn anything better, doesn't make it "fun" and isn't a good use of her time. It's just stupid.

Thank you, I thought it was just me. Our school has a monthly "family project" that I despise. ALL the K students do it so it is not just his teacher. He goes to another school next year so we'll see.

[CarrieMF]

do they not have class time to be working on this? At my kids school(public) they are given more than enough time to work on any projects during school. If they can't finish it then there is 1 study/homework hour a week at school. The older grades can stay in at lunch/recesses to work on stuff & if they have to THEN it will get sent home.

The Grade 8's project sounds like less work than the Grade 4's project. At this time of year most of what they're doing is either review for exams, cramming in anything that they're behind on or time filler work.

[kathymuggle]

would write a short note to the teacher explaining that you appreciate the creativity and thoroughness of the assignments, but question the timing.

I would also think about and then discuss with the children your beleif on the value of:

-grades
-inappropriate amounts of work
-getting the job done.

After your discussion, I would formulate a game plan. If you beleive grades are important and in the value of getting the job done, buckle down and do it. If you think grades are not particualrly important (or important in the grade they are in) and dislike oodles of homework, have the kids do an hour a night and leave it at that (maybe writie a note to the teacher explaining your family only has the kids do an hour per night of homework, hence the incomplete assignment)

[EFmom]

Originally Posted by FedUpMom

Please, complain to the teachers. It's shocking how many parents suffer in silence. In my experience most teachers have no idea what these homework projects are like for the families who have to deal with them.

What would happen if you just didn't do the project? I doubt they get 100% participation in any case. How about if you just send an e-mail to the teacher explaining why you won't do the project? It's the end of the year, so she won't even have time to take it out on your child.

I am *so* opposed to these projects, which, on top of eating time and energy, are really assignments for Mom as much as, or more than, the kids. There's no way a normal 4th grader can get through the project you describe without immense support, organizing, and nagging from Mom.

I wish this were the case. In my experience, the teachers shut down immediately and get defensive as all get out if you complain about anything homework related. BTDT.

On one hand, I can understand that they aren't interested in making exceptions. We have an overall good district, but the class sizes are large. I can see where the teachers have to be pretty inflexible in order to not go insane. But it just makes me crazy to waste everyone's time (and money) with all this busywork. And buying craft supplies that my kids don't want to use in the first place and are going to end up in a landfill ASAP is totally irritating.

In our district, if the kid doesn't do the project, they get a zero factored into their grades. For some families that might not matter, but for others it really does.

[One_Girl]

Grades aren't usually counted for college until 9th grade so having your child not do the project or turning the project in late doesn't seem like a bad idea. In fact, grades may have already been turned in so it may not affect your childrens grades at all. In our district the teachers turn in grades a few weeks before school ends. I think talking to the teacher, especially the younger child's teacher, about the time requirement would be a good idea. It may be that this is going to be their main focus for the week, they may have had a month to do it and now it is very overdue, or the teacher may have an unrealistic expectation. Have you checked the library for the books your kids need? They tend to have more resources than bookstores. If you can't get the material in book or internet form then I think you need to tell the teacher and ask her to help your child find material.

[EFmom]

While grades may not count toward college, in our district they count toward class placement. So, if you want your kids to be in accelerated or enriched classes and they don't turn in projects, you are S-O-L, no matter how bright your child might be.

[sunnmama]

Originally Posted by EFmom

While grades may not count toward college, in our district they count toward class placement. So, if you want your kids to be in accelerated or enriched classes and they don't turn in projects, you are S-O-L, no matter how bright your child might be.

Projects they can do themselves? Or projects that depend on parental support, transportation, and money?

I'd take it all the way to the school board (in steps, following the chain of command) if a child in public school is potentially denied accelerated classes because their parent does not have the resources (time, money, transportation) required for the child to do the qualifying projects. That's discriminative.

[ollyoxenfree]

If they are given class time to work on these projects, then it is possible that the teachers have covered the curriculum for the year, completed most of their grading, and need something to fill in the next couple of weeks.

If that is the case, then I'd suggest to my dc that they explore the topic and the project as much as they are interested, but not to worry about getting them perfect.

I'd look closely at the rubrics for the projects, if the teachers have provided them. The 8th grade newspaper seems like big project for just one week. It doesn't leave any time for a re-draft of all 7 articles. Most editors advise letting a feature article sit for a while before you re-edit it. Either the teacher has set up the students to fail at the task, or s/he doesn't expect a polished finished newspaper.

[LauraLoo]

Just curious -- are you certain that this was just sprung on them out of the blue, or did the teachers talk about this assignment a week or two in advance before giving the specifics so the kids could ponder it for a bit? It's been awhile, but I know that my teachers usually talked about big projects like this, in a big picture kind of way, well ahead of time. YMMV, of course.

That said, my ds once received a project assignment mailed to him during the summer that was to be completed and turned in on the first day of school. Yup - he actually got a project to do during his summer break. I don't even want to write what his reaction was. It wasn't pretty.

[Oriole]

That seems like a lot for just one week on the newspaper. My guess would be that the students are given class time to work on these projects? If that's not the case, I'd talk to the teacher about my concerns.

[GuildJenn]

Originally Posted by imagine21

While I can't comment on the specific projects or how long it SHOULD take to complete them, as a mother and a teacher, I can assure you that if you think that "their time is their time" you are mistaken. Teachers spend many, many, many hours outside of school grading papers and preparing lesson plans for their students' education without compensation. I could not help but feel offended by this comment, although I know you did not intend the slight.

Well jumping in...the thing is, parents also work that way. Some are teachers, some are in media, some are IT professionals - most people I know are putting hours in outside of their jobs without additional compensation.

Besides that, kids are involved in lots of activities both formal and informal, and if a family has several children, the whole family is actively involved in trying to juggle multiple priorities.

So, if these teachers did in fact drop major at-home projects, one of which had a deadline of ONE WEEK to complete, on these families at the last minute then I think it is fair to speculate that these particular teachers envision family life stretching out with hours and hours of time just waiting to be plugged back into a last minute end-of-term school project. And I think that does show a lack of understanding about family time and priorities when kids need a lot of support.

Also this probably doesn't apply in this case but I LOVE this teacher's look at time management and regular homework:

http://blog.mrmeyer.com/?p=133

OP, I think I would call or email today and explain the dilemma and ask the teacher what options are available...can the project be late or is there a way the teacher can support completion more in class?

[texmati]

I remember a teacher in HS saying that she only assigned an hour of home work a night-- who couldn't spend an hour in the evening to follow up on the school work? By highschool we were taking 8 classes at a time. Plus extracurriculars. I can't belive teachers can be so unreasonable about home work.

[ecoteat]

That 4th grade project sounds pretty intense if it is to be done independently outside of class. If they are working on it in chunks during class, I could understand. But I would not have expected my students to do that on their own when I taught 4th grade. Now I teach 8th grade and I think that other project sounds interesting. Were these just assigned? Or have they been working on them in class? Or should they have been working on them at home and missed an opporunity to get the bulk of them done sooner?

As far as timing goes, I've found that if I don't increase my expectations at the end of the year, I lose the last couple weeks. I have to ramp it up, not wind it down. But I tend to do lots of smaller assignments at this point in the year because I never know exactly how long something might take or how many interruptions will throw off my schedule.

[eepster]

Originally Posted by robin4kids

My 4th grader has to pick a time period in US history and research it. She has to collect all the research and write about it. She also has to make a book about why you might want to visit. She also has to make a FOUR minute oral presentation about what she learned.

I would contact the teacher ASAP and confirm whether or not she actually meant "book." She may have meant a small travel brochure. That would make more sense and be more reasonable considering the time frame.

[Maggie05]

Not to try to pass the buck, but maybe to give a bit of perspective... (as a teacher)

1. Project-type assessments are very "trendy" in education today. My supervisor and principal are always checking lesson plans to see "alternative assessments that address varying learning styles". It is demanded of us that we assign these types of projects that allow students who are more artistic, visual or auditory to be able to express those skills.

2. While I do teach High School, that is not that much different than 8th grade, so...one week, right before the end of the marking period, I handed in my lesson plans to my supervisor. I was trying to catch up on my grading, and students were reading and watching a movie connected to the reading in class. I did not assign homework for about 4 days, giving everybody a little break. When they were returned to me, there was basically a reprimand written on them that students should not go without homework. We are a district trying to raise test scores, and each night there should be homework assigned. I got the message.

My point is that it is very easy to say it is the teacher doing this, the teacher doesn't understand. It is very easy to say that until you know what is going on behind the scenes. Homework is often a district policy, required by the school board. Teachers who don't assign these types of projects are labeled uncreative, or not addressing learning styles. Sometimes I really feel that teachers can't win. They are damned if they do, damned if they don't...

I know those projects are hard, I am a parent and a teacher. I admit that I heave a sigh when I see the instructions for them. But I can see the other side, because I am in it.