Erika Boerger Daniel, School Psychologist

Well it is getting closer and closer to the start of the new school year for 2011-2012. Hopefully you have taken some time to relax, enjoy your favorite activities and spend time with family and friends.

As you prepare to enter the new year, what goals do you have going into the school year? What has worked for you in the past that you hope to maintain in order to make a positive difference in a child? What would you like to improve? These are questions that often weigh heavily on the mind of teachers and educators. It is good to go into the year ready to try and reach each student in your class and help them to reach their potential. Yes, there will be stumbles and obstacles along the way, but continuing to look at each day as a chance to make a difference will help you get through the more difficult days. Often we as educators look at the big picture and the finish line and get frustrated when we feel we are not getting students to where they need to be. Yet, we have to remember that each step (no matter how small) forward, is in the right direction. Use your family, friends, colleagues as a source of problem solving and reflection. It is important that your attitude stays positive as that is what the students will always be able to get from you each day… your attitude is contagious.

Best of luck to you this school year and I hope to continue to add to this edublog resources I come across.

It is hard as we approach this point in the year to maintain momentum. I catch myself becoming easily tired and frustrated with continuing “problems” and workload. Though as educators, we need to do our best to maintain a rigorous pace and high level of expectations for our children. We can do this with positive behaivor approaches and trying to focus on what you are seeing that is going well and build on it. If you make yourself notice and acknowledge more good, than your attitude and student attitude and performance will improve. Remember we need to shoot for at least a higher ratio of positive comments to negative. Also, remember students at this point may need a refresher of what you want to see and behavior expectations.

Homework Survival Guide   

Parent Handout by Peg Dawson, NCSP

Peg Dawson, an experienced, on-the-job mother, and incidentally a past-president of the National Association of School Psychologists, has prepared the following handout for parents with tips on dealing with homework. This handout has been published by the National Association of School Psychologists as an eight page handout.

A Place to Work

• Find the right place. In some families, having a central location, where all children in the family do their homework works best. This may be the dining room or kitchen table. In other families, each child has her own study place, usually at a desk in the bedroom. What works for you depends on your children. Some kids do best under the watchful eye of a parent, in which case the dining room or kitchen may work best. Others need a quiet of their bedrooms to avoid distractions. Some kids like to work with the radio on (and this helps them focus), while others do worse with this kind of background noise. Think about possible distractions that will need to be avoided (a nearby television, the telephone, etc.) when planning your child’s workspace.You may want to conduct “experiments” with your child to determine what setting works best under what circumstances. Try several options for a week each and see how your child does (rate the quality of the homework completed, the time it took to finish, and the child’s subjective reaction).
• Gather necessary materials
  Youngsters can waste a lot of time tracking down things like pencils, paper, rulers, etc. when beginning their homework. To avoid this, stock your child’s study area with these materials and any other he is likely to need, such as a dictionary, highlighters, pens, scissors, glue, tape, colored pencils, stapler and staples, etc.It may also be helpful to set up file folders for each subject your child is taking in school to keep track of necessary papers, such as long-term assignment directions, tests and homework that have been passed back (to help in studying for the next test), etc. These folders should not be used for storing homework, since your child is likely to then leave it at home and forget to take it to school. Completed homework should be placed in the child’s backpack, trapper keeper, or notebook as soon as it is finished to ensure it gets to school.A plastic bin may be an ideal place to store study materials; if you have more than one child, you may want to have one bin for each child. The advantage to this is that these are portable – just in case you have a child whose preferred study style is to work in a different place each night!

  You may also want to have a second container (such as a dishpan) which your child can “dump” their school things in as soon as they get home from school. This will help avoid last minute frantic searches for permission slips, library books, messages from the principal, notices of meetings, etc.

Organizing Homework/Setting Priorities

A homework session should begin by reviewing what the day’s assignments are. It is probably a good idea to draw up a list of assignments on a separate sheet of paper, so that you can then help your child prioritize and break down longer tasks into shorter ones. The steps to follow might be:

1. List out assignments.
2. Make sure the child brought home the necessary books, work sheets, etc.
3. Break longer tasks into sub tasks.
4. Check to see what other tasks the child has to do which should be included on the list – including long term assignments, and tests later in the week for which the child should begin studying. Add these to the homework list.
5. Have the child decide what order she will complete the work. A good rule of thumb is to have the child begin and end with assignments she considers “easy,” sandwiching more difficult assignments in between.
6. Estimate how much time it will take to complete the work.
7. Make sure you have allowed enough time for the child to complete all his homework allowing for break time as necessary.

Sometimes it is difficult for kids to complete homework because of other obligations they may have – sports events, doctors’ appointments, scout meetings, chores, family events, etc. You may find it helpful to put together a weekly calendar to keep track of these activities. Once a week (Sunday afternoon sounds good), sit down with your child and fill out (or review) the weekly calendar together. Then, as you plan your homework time each day, you can reference this calendar to allow time for the other activities your child is involved with.

Getting Started

As mentioned above, it is usually best to have the child begin with a task that they consider “easy.” Some children may want to start with the hardest task first to get it over with, and this is acceptable unless the child has a very difficult time getting started and will dawdle or avoid the difficult assignment even though it was his/her choice to start with it.

For many youngsters, just getting started on homework seems like an insurmountable obstacle. We have several suggestions for handling this problem:

1. Have the child specify exactly when she will begin her homework and then reward her for getting to work within five minutes of the time she has specified.
2. Sit with your child for the first five minutes to make sure he gets off to a good start.
3. Talk with your child about her assignments before beginning. This is particularly important for written language assignments or more open-ended tasks. Children often need to be “primed” or activated for their best efforts to come out. This is particularly true for youngsters who may have difficulties with verbal fluency or word retrieval.
4. Orient your child to his assignment; walk him through the first one or two problems or items to make sure he understands what he is supposed to do.
5. Build in a short break relatively quickly, if getting started is a problem.

Getting Through It

Make sure adequate breaks are built in. Many children have a great deal of difficulty working for long stretches of time on homework without a break. Better to plan for a two hour homework session with frequent breaks built in than to try to cram homework into a one-hour, non-stop session. You can sue a kitchen timer to keep breaks to a reasonable length (e.g., 5-10 minutes). Breaks might be used to get a snack, play a few minutes of a Nintendo game, or to shoot baskets or do some other form of exercise. Breaks should be scheduled when tasks get accomplished rather than after a set period of time, otherwise your child can daydream the time away and still get his break. One child we know arranges homework sessions between TV shows he likes to watch. Thus, his schedule on any given day might look like this:

• 4:30 math
• 5:00 TV show
• 5:30 language arts
• 6:00 dinner
• 6:30 social studies
• 7:00 TV show
• 8:00 science
• 8:30 TV show
• 9:00 bed time

If he hasn’t finished whatever task he was working on when his television program comes on, he either misses the program or tapes it watch at a later time.

Other suggestions for getting through homework:

1. Make a game out of work completion: have the child estimate how long it will take to complete an assignment, have her “place bets,” set a kitchen timer where the child can’t see how much time it was set for and challenge her to “beat the clock,” or use a stopwatch to see how quickly she can do an assignment, one math problem, etc.
2. If a task takes longer than your child can sustain (even if it’s broken down into smaller steps) or if he “gets stuck,” have him switch to another assignment rather than stop working altogether.
3. Use a “beep tape” to help him stay focused. This is an audio tape which sounds an electronic tone at random intervals. When the child hears the tone, she is to ask herself, “Was I paying attention?” She can be given a form to fill out to accompany the tape. This has been quite effective with children who daydream or who get pulled off task easily. often without even realizing it. The tone brings them back to task. Alternatively, some parents make “nag tapes” where they tape messages at random intervals, again to prompt the child back to task.

Long Term Assignments

These are often the hardest homework assignments for youngsters to keep track of and to complete.

1. Know what assignments are due when.
   In addition to having a weekly assignment book where daily homework is recorded, it is also advisable to have a monthly calendar on which long term assignments can be written as soon as they are assigned. With younger or more disorganized students parents may want to periodically send in this calendar and ask the classroom teacher to verify that it is up-to-date. Older students should be able to keep these themselves, transferring items as necessary from their weekly assignment book.
2. Break long term assignments into sub tasks.
   Sit down with your child and read over directions or discuss the nature of the long term assignment. Make out a list of the steps necessary to complete the assignment. If desired, this can be a fairly lengthy outline with notes attached providing more guidance about what is to be included for each step. For written reports, for instance, the steps might include taking notes, generating an outline, writing the introduction, the sections of the report and the summary, preparing a bibliography, drawing any necessary maps and charts, proofreading, preparing the final draft, and making a cover.
3. Draw up a time line.
   Once the outline is developed, each sub task should than have due date attached to it and should be written on the monthly calendar.Care should be taken to ensure adequate time is available for each step. A long report will require that more time be devoted to each step, particularly preparing the final draft and proofreading. If the long term assignment requires that your child use the library, visit a museum, or gather information from outside sources, include these trips on the time line, with dates attached. If materials need to be purchased, the time when this will happen should also be identified.In the beginning, your child will probably need extensive help breaking down his assignments and developing a realistic time line. As time goes on, he can assume increasing amounts of responsibility for these. Time management is a skill of life-long importance. Developing increasing independence in planning for and executing long term assignments is an early opportunity for a child to acquire this valuable skill.

Incentive Systems

For many youngsters, homework is an exceedingly difficult task representing an ordeal they perceive at times to be insurmountable. For these children all the organization and planning in the world may not be enough to get them through the daily grind of homework. In this case, an incentive system may need to be put in place to make homework completion a more attractive task for them.

If this is the right approach for your child, we recommend a system whereby your child can earn points for completing tasks or for demonstrating other appropriate behaviors required for successful homework completion. The points can then be traded in for daily, weekly or long term reinforcers. Steps involved in setting up a point system include:

1. With your child, draw up a list of privileges or rewards your child would like to earn. daily rewards might include an extra half hour of television, a special snack, the chance to stay up an extra half hour before bed. Weekly rewards might include a trip to the mall or McDonald’s or the chance to go to a video arcade or rent a video. Longer term rewards might be going to a movie with a friend, inviting a friend over for the night, or the chance to buy a small toy.
2. Now, again with your child, draw up a list of “jobs” for which your child can earn points. Related to homework, such jobs might include:
   • Writing down homework assignments
   • Bringing home necessary homework materials
   • Getting homework started on time
   • Completing work within the specified homework time
   • Finishing homework without reminders (nags) from parents
   • Finishing homework without constant parental supervision or assistance
   • Completing work with an acceptable standard of accuracy (reviewed and defined ahead of time for each assignment)
   • Proofreading written work/checking math problems
   • Handing in homework completed and on time
   • Successfully solving homework problems (e.g., calling friends or teacher when an assignment is not understood, knowing what to do when books or other necessary papers were left at school, discussing homework problems with the teacher or going to the teacher for extra help).
3. Decide how many points each of the homework “jobs” can earn and how much each of the privileges or rewards will cost. To determine how much the rewards should cost, add up the number of points you feel your child will earn each day. Be sure that your child has about one third of her points free to save up for special privileges.
4. Get a notebook, and set it up with five columns, one each for the date, the item, deposits, withdrawals, and the running balance.
5. Once a month or so, review the list of jobs and privileges and revise as necessary.

Described above is a fairly elaborate system that may be necessary with those children who are highly resistant to doing homework. When the problem is not considered to be so extreme, a more informal system (such as the opportunity to earn a small reward after all the homework is done each day) may be all that is necessary. Children can also be taught to reward themselves as they complete tasks, both major and minor ones. They can also adjust the reward depending on the size or difficulty of the task; half an hour of reading is worth a 10 minute break to shoot baskets; completing a term paper is worth a bike ride to the store to by a favorite snack.

With some children, the use of natural or logical consequences alone may be sufficient. Not being able to watch a favorite TV program because the homework wasn’t done in time is a logical consequence arises from dawdling over assignments. For some children, a failing grade is a natural consequence for failure to complete homework, and this alone will be sufficient to induce them to work. However, it has been our experience that parents should not assume that fear of a failing grade alone will be sufficient to induce their child to do his homework.

Parents should resist the temptation simply to punish children for their failure to do homework. While it may make sense to cut down on the number of outside activities or the amount of time their child is allowed to play with friends after school in order to allow for sufficient time to do homework, a system in which incentives are built in for homework completion will likely be more effective than a system of negative consequences alone. Most children who have problems doing homework are not happy about their situation or the fights they draw their parents into. Rather, it seems to take these children considerably more effort to get down to work and to sustain attention to homework than it does the average child. For this reason, it makes sense to reward them for the extra effort it takes.

Parent Role: Help or Supervise?

Many parents, particularly those of children who may be struggling in school, wrestle with the question of how much help they should give thief children on homework. The following suggestions are offered:

1. It is a good idea for parents to discuss with their children the nature of the assignment, to make sure they understand what they are supposed to do, and to guide them as they do the first one or two items of an assignment. Parents should not have to remain by their children’s side throughout the entire session. If your child seems to require this, then you should probably build in n incentive for working independently to wean your child off reliance on you for support or assistance. Setting the kitchen timer and telling your child to wait until it rings to show you her work or to ask questions is one way to gradually increase independence.
2. Parents may want to review homework assignments to check for either neatness or accuracy. If the handwriting is illegible (and your child is capable of writing more neatly without an inordinate amount of effort), it is acceptable to ask him to rewrite the assignment. If your child is ready to learn to proofread or to check for mistakes himself, you may want to hand a paper back with a comment such as, “I found three mistakes on your math page,” or “Please look for spelling errors.” If he’s not ready for this, point to the specific mistakes and ask him to correct them (without giving him the correct answer).
3. Parents should keep in mind the overall purpose of homework: to give children independent practice with a skill they have already been taught. Parents should not have to teach the skills necessary for their children to complete their homework successfully. A good rule of thumb is that children should be able to get at least 70 percent of a homework assignment correct working on their own for it be within an appropriate instructional range. If your child cannot achieve that level of success without a great deal of support from you, then the homework she is being assigned is probably inappropriate. Make an appointment with your child’s teacher to ask for assignments that will better give her the practice she needs.
4. You may also want to talk to the teacher if your child appears to be spending an inordinate amount of time on homework even though he is successful at it. Ask the teacher how much time a child should be spending on homework, and if your child is working much more than that, ask for an adjustment in workload, such as reduced assignments.

References

Chesworth, M., (1991). Putting on the brakes: Young people’s guide to understanding Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), New York: Magination Press.

Appendices

Simply click on the images to see a larger version.

Weekly Calendar

Sample Calendar for Planning Long-Term Assignments

Sample Homework Contracts

Sample Homework Contract I

Terms of Contract:

1. John will write down all assignments in assignment book.

2. The daily TV schedule will be:

a. John can watch Batman at 5 o’clock.

b. In order to watch any evening TV shows, homework will be completed.

c. If homework isn’t done, we will tape shows for later viewing.

3. John will not be allowed to play video games during the week unless all his homework is done.
He can play no more than one hour per day at any time (including weekends).

4. On Fridays, John will have teachers sign a sheet indicating he has turned in all homework
assignments for the week.

Points can be earned for: Point Value

Points can be traded for:

Sample Homework Contract II

School professionals and organizations (e.g., the PTA) can print the fact sheets individually for hard copy distribution.  However, all fact sheets must be disseminated in the original form with the NASP logo and the information credited to NASP, whether in print or online format.

Welcome back to school and to beginning a great school year for 2010-2011!   The beginning of the year is always exciting, energy tends to be a little higher and mood is positive. Yet, this can fade with the daily grind, pressures, and getting lost in our normal routines and habits.  Take advantage of the time before the students come to really organize your room, get your plans ready, and have a classroom behavior management plan set up and ready to roll!    These are crucial to have ready prior to the students coming (though be prepared to tweak as you get to know your students).

Below are some quick tips for making the beginning of the year a success and thus leading to a successful year.

• Organize your room and color code everything (have students learn these areas so they can help maintain the organization).
• Walls:  Less is more, make sure your walls have essential information, but are not so overloaded that you can’t see blank wall space.  Messages/rules/information gets lost and also can be overwhelming to students who are already struggling to pay attention.
• Have Routines set up:  how/where should students turn in paperwork/assignments?  where are supplies for students to access?  what is the arrival routine/activity?  lunch routine?  recess?  dismissal?
• What are your rules/expectations?:  keep simple and minimal (4-6) of what you WANT to see.  Have multiple discussions with students as to what these look like.  Continue to remind students and point out positive behaviors to help reinforce rules.  What are consequences (positive and negative)?  Perhaps have a think area in your room for reflection time or “time out/calm down” area for students to write and reflect.
• Make labels with student names/numbers:   Have students create multiple labels with names and numbers which can be added to journals, folders, and other materials… a great time saver!
• Be prepared for absences… label things in your room, have a seating chart, prepared lessons in case of last minute absences.
• PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE:  All teachers go through rules and walk their students around the building, but continue to model, rehearse, and discuss expectations in a positive light and BEFORE major problems arise.  Children need to hear, do, and see multiple times for it to become part of their routine.  You can incorporate this with academic skills/activities as well!

These are just a few tips, but the best thing for students/children is predictability and consistency.  Also, it is easier to begin with more structure and then relax some than to try to add more structure later.   Also, stay positive, model what you want to see in the children.

Have a great year!

Every teacher wants students to act responsibly.  Those students who act irresponsibly are either unaware of what they are doing because they react impulsively, don’t or won’t see the connection between a choice they made and the consequence they got, or are poor planners who mean well but lack organization and can’t get from one place to another without getting sidetracked.  Teaching responsibility is an on-going process with many links, but a good starting point is getting students to look inside at themselves rather than blaming everyone else for what happens to them.  The following tips can help:

Ask What, Not Why – When confronting behavior, you are more likely to get it to stop while simultaneously having the student look internally when you ask “What are you doing?” rather than “Why are you bothering him?”  Usually, the student will stop without you needing to say more.  However, if the student says something, simply ask “What are you supposed to be doing?”  Conclude by telling the student that this is not a good time for him to tell you but thank him for doing the right thing.

A Responsibility Sentence That Redirects – When you notice a behavior you find inappropriate, say to the student “We both know you have the power to (state your expectation)______________.  Thanks for using it.”  If you don’t like the word “power,” substitute “ability.”  For example, “Natalie, we both know you have the power to ignore what she just said to you even though it sounded mean.  Thanks for using it.”

A Simple Three-Step Process – After performing an unacceptable behavior, a student may be instructed to complete the following sentences at his or her desk or in a time-out area either inside or outside the classroom.  Follow-up is virtually always required.  Be sure to insist that the answers be specific and comprehensive.

1. Today I had a problem with_____________________________________.

2. The choice I made that got me in trouble was_______________________.

3. Next time I will do better at______________________________________.

Offer Manageable Choices – Whenever possible, offer choices academically and behaviorally.  For example,

Academic: “Tonight’s homework is on page 90. There are ten problems.  Turn in whichever five will best show you and me that you understand the material.”

Behavioral: “Of these three consequences, which will best help you not make the same mistake or is there another one that will work even better?”

For much more information on this topic, please join me at my next webinar, Responsibility Anyone?, on December 15, 2009 at 4:15 pm EST.

Allen Mendler, Ph.D. (co-author of Discipline with Dignity 3rd Edition).

August Newsletter

Saying good-bye to the lazy, hazy days of summer is never easy but welcome back! Hopefully you have used at least part of the time to refresh and renew so you have the energy and enthusiasm to propel you and your students off to a great start. Keep the following tips in mind that will help you get off on the right foot.

·Let your students know you want to get to know each of them. To help that happen, give each student a 3 x 5 index card and ask them to write down or draw answers to questions appropriate for their age. Examples might include the following: What music do you like? What is your favorite television show? What is something you hope to learn this year? What do you like to do outside of school?

·Establish predictable routines – Tell, show and teach your students the classroom routines that will help them be successful in your class. Among other things these should include how to enter the classroom, where to find the assignment, what to do if a pencil breaks and how to get permission for a drink or the bathroom.

·Share your goals for them. Most teachers want their students to be successful and act responsibly. How you run your classroom every day should be based on these goals. Let your students know that they will be compared to themselves rather than each other. You will expect each to become better each day in the subject than they were yesterday. If they can spell three letter spelling words today, they will next be expected to spell four. As such, not everyone will always have the exact same assignment or test. If they break rules, let them know that you will choose whichever consequence you believe will help that student learn a little bit more about responsibility. That could mean different consequences for different students. Being fair means giving each student what he needs. It does not mean treating everyone the same.

·Get them involved in establishing rules and consequences. Your students have likely heard it all before so rather than boring them, ask them to identify rules they think you and others should follow in the classroom that will help them be successful. Tell them that the rules should make three things happen. The rules should help them look after themselves, each other and this place. Let these values form the basis of your classroom rules but encourage ownership by having your students develop the rules based on these values.

·Give each student a responsible job. Some possibilities: classroom greeter, paper passer, errand runner, cleaner upper, noise monitor and absence assignment helper.

·Make the first phone call or contact to any parent a positive one. Let them know one or two things their child did that is either helping him or others succeed or act responsibly. You want to set a positive tone so should the need arise to gain their help, they will feel you truly care about their child.

Best wishes for a truly great school year!——————-Dr. Allen Mendler

P.S. Looking for more tips to start off your year off successfully?  Then don’t miss Dr. Mendler’s webinar, Getting off on the Right Foot on September 22.  For more information log onto http://www.TLC-SEMS.com/dr-mendler-brian-mendler-webinars.aspx