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This is a real and current issue. I assign homework. I believe it helps me assess that students have mentally digested what happened in class through their reflections, and helps my students prepare for class when we are operating in a flipped capacity. Tough issue with people who feel strongly on all sides. This is one teacher's perspective.

I was going to stay out of this because it is such a hot button issue, but in the end, I decided to comment. I think we all know there is no easy answer. I have a daughter in high school here in Reading who does 7-8 hours of homework per night and spends at least half her weekend, every weekend, studying and doing more homework. It has become a real issue for my daughter and my family. It is September, and to say she is burnt out is an understatement. More balance is needed. An hour and a half to two hours of homework in each class per night equals 7 or so hours minimum every night after attending school for 6 1/2 hours each day. This normally means getting to bed well after midnight each night, and up again by six the next morning to do it all again. She is exhausted. It's not mentally or physically healthy for anyone, let alone an adolescent. This is just my perspective as a teacher and the parent of a high schooler. I am not against homework, and have always instilled a strong work ethic in my kids, but the time and stamina needed to complete the pure volume of homework, study for tests, complete individual and group projects, day in and day out, is not sustainable.

Thanks for posting your perspective, Jan. Indeed, 7 hours of homework after a full day of school sounds staggering. There are other articles at the Atlantics website in which teachers argue against assigning any homework at all (see http://m.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/09/should-i-stop-assigning-homework/279803/). Both perspectives are interesting and both talk about what their research shows. I think 7 hours a night is too much. I think assigning mere "worksheets" is not helpful. I posted this because I have been considering my own practice. I don't think it has to be 2 hours a night or nothing, though. There is no easy answer.

I loved this commentary posted on Education Week. It talks about the importance of giving students unstructured time on a regular basis, and expanding recess or time for physical activity. As the author states, "Kids are built to move. Having more time for unstructured outdoor play is like handing them a reset button." This author also spent six weeks in Finland studying their education system. They seem to be achieving greater success with less class time, and more built in natural breaks. This is worth reading.

I wish we had more down time and outside time as well during the day. We barely get it all in as it is with one recess, but maybe going outside or having downtime will help them retain more day to day.

I'm so glad you posted this article, Julie. I think it is so important to continue examining not just what we teach, but how we teach it. My son shifted this January to the Waldorf school in Lexington, in part because he is a very physical learner, who is interested in the arts, music, and practical arts, but also because he was just sitting too much of the day, focusing almost exclusively on reading and math skills. In his new school, they practice counting and multiplication tables while jumping rope on teams, for example. It's not recess, but it is physical activity, it's fun, and it really reinforces and connects the math skill they are working on. I hear many examples like this from him each week, and it has really inspired me to try to incorporate similar approaches, even (or maybe especially?) with my 9th graders.

Andrea Elliot - journalist for the New York Times - followed the life of an 11 year old homeless child, Dasani, for a year. According to the article there are a staggering amount of homeless children in New York City - 22,091 this month. To put that in perspective, if all of the city's homeless children were to file into Madison Square Garden for a hockey game, more than 4,800 would not have a seat. The article chronichles both Dasani's home and academic life. It is discouraging to think that even though this child has so much potential, the obstacles she will face in life make success extremely difficult (even with all the support she recieves at school). I know we have at least one homeless child on our team this year, and this article really helped put what her life might be lke into perspective for me. Eventhough the article is legnthy, I would encourage everyone to spend some time reading it. It was well worth the read.

This article really puts things into perspective. I also was glad that with all the chaos, the school seems to be a place of comfort and routine. With that said, it is deplorable that children are living in these types of conditions. As Annemarie said, it puts things into perspective,

Thanks for sharing Taylor. I have read most of the article and will definitely be finishing it. It's almost inconceivable that families, and especially children, are living in these conditions mainly because people are aware of it, it is documented, and yet nothing is done to fix it. I'm glad that school can be a place that provides comfort and safety for Dasani. I think that is the case for a lot of students, no matter how tough their home life may or may not be. It's hard to think about that while we enjoy our vacation and most likely don't want it to end. There are probably many children out there waiting desperately for schools to reopen. This article really makes you stop and think.

Interesting read on how Kindergarten is the new first grade. I know that in my 18 years teaching that I have seen this shift. Things that I used in my first grade classroom are now being used in Kindergarten.

Thanks for sharing Kerry! I was actually just having this conversation with a colleague at lunch today following our curriculum and instruction meeting. We were reviewing the DIBBLES scores and discussing the kids that were in the yellow and discussing how we can get these "struggling" students to green. The piece that was not noted or discussed was that most of these kids were in the red at the beginning of the year. Of course we need to talk about how to continue to support all students, but I feel like we are focusing only on getting them to the green and not taking the time to recognize how successful and how much progress they have made this far. Some of these kids knew 4 letters and no sounds at the beginning of the year and now can name all the letters and their sounds, but are having trouble with newly introduced skills like blending and segmenting words. That is a lot of progress in just one area, never mind their progress in other areas. I don't know that I have personally progressed that much in any are of my life in the last year, never mind the last five months. On the other hand there are definitely kids in my class that are ready to or are reading and need to be pushed and challenged. My concern isn't that the standards are unrealistic, it's that it is unrealistic of us to expect that all kids will meet them at the same time and if they don't meet them in our set time frame we consider them to be a struggling student. As a result we push them harder and make them do more work with a skill that they might just not be ready for.

This is a thought-provoking article about the effects that our kids may be experiencing from use of handheld devices when very young. It's a question that I've had for a while about relative benefits of technology for very young kids. What do people think?

This could be an interesting debate topic. While I don't necessarily agree with some of the points made in the article, I do sometimes wonder how much overuse of technology is contribute to higher rates of ADHD or ADD. I don't have any hard and fast evidence, but based on what I see in the classroom, it seems difficult for students to "slow down" and focus on any activity for long periods of time. They so used to jumping from one thing to another, or texting on their phone while talking to a friend, that they're never really present in the moment, or focused solely on what's in front of them. I also notice it with myself. Having an ipad or cell phone or laptop at a meeting, it's hard to always stay focused on what's going on, especially when work emails are coming in that seem to need your immediate attention. It's definitely hard to shut off or disconnect. However, I also remember someone sharing in class thoughts from Tony Wagner's book that screen time in school where kids are working collaboratively on a project, or experiencing things that they can only experience with technology, is vastly different from playing video games, or watching TV/movies in a more isolated setting. Technology can be instrumental in learning, and I don't see how it wouldn't remain part of instruction in elementary schools. Maybe the debate is more in the quality of how it's used? Good food for thought; thanks for sharing!

I agree that this is a great topic to debate. As with with most things there are positives and negatives that both make sense. I agree with Julie that maybe the question should focus on the quality and quantity of how these devices are used with children under 12.

A really interesting reflective post about parents' concerns about screen time and our increasing use of screens as a way to encourage learning. What should schools do when curriculum and instruction conflicts with parenting? No easy answer here. Just posing more questions.

Interesting post, Kerry. I don't have any answers, either. And since I'm not a parent, it's hard for me to imagine how I might feel on the parent side of the issue at this time. It's interesting because in our jigsaw group discussion on chapter 6, we talked about a similar issue. Wagner points out how parents of the innovators he showcased in his book limited screen time, but also set an important distinction between screen time where kids are watching TV and playing video games, often independently, and screen time in classrooms where kids are engaged in collaborative learning projects. I certainly agree that there is a difference, but it makes sense that there should be some balance, or some limit, somewhere. In education it always seems that the pendulum swings from one extreme to the other before settling somewhere in the middle. It will be interesting to see how this issue unfolds. I'd also be curious to hear from the perspectives of the parents in our EBTL2 class, since they are also educators involved in the BYOD initiative and growing world of technology.

So, I'm a parent of a 7th grader and a 3rd grader, and obviously I'm also involved as a teacher at RMHS. We have 1:1 iPads in my LLD English classes but they stay at school. I haven't had any push-back from parents so far about assignments or screen time. I did look at this link, and I looked at the forum as well, and I think as a parent, what was a little concerning about the forum comments, was the lack of empathy and understanding from teachers towards parents. As a parent, I also have concerns about screen time, and I see that there are certainly ways that we can limit recreational screen time. We do as much as we can. But, sometimes if my 7th grader has a project, I might not know much more about it than she is able to communicate to me (sometimes this is a lot, and sometimes it is not much). There have only been a few times when this has happened, but I have tried to set some limit about how much time to spend on the project, my daughter has really fought it, because she's been concerned about not doing a good job, etc. Occasionally new technology or apps take longer for her to master than the intended time for the project or assignment, and so something simple or seemingly quick takes much longer than it should. Situations like this can turn parents off to technology if they don't understand the big picture, or if they don't have any confidence that the teacher understands the big picture. Sometimes we don't give kids enough time in class to "play around" with apps or new approaches before turning them loose to do an assignment independently, and that too, can lead to stressful situations at home where both parent and child don't know how to do the assignment. I think the point is that any change is going to make people uncomfortable, and some folks are going to react more strongly than others. The more we can communicate and explain what's happening, and let parents know that the technology and experimentation is a vital part of the learning proce

This is a great article about brain health and how diets that include large quantities of gluten have been linked to maladies such as Alzheimer's, anxiety, depression, chronic headaches, ADHD and others. The book, Grain Brain: The surprising truth about wheat, carbs, and sugar; your brain's silent killers has been on the best seller list since September. It's being published in 15 countries. The New England Journal of Medicine has also conducted numerous studies and supports some of the claims of the book, though there are differing opinions in the medical field and at the end of the article, the author is not convinced that gluten is dangerous to most people. We see a tremendous numbers of students in our schools that suffer from some of these ailments. The article is suggesting that nutrition is absolutely linked to our neurological health. A few years ago our food services changed the menus in our schools. Children in middle school can no longer eat 6 cookies and 2 ice creams for lunch. Though lunch duty isn't my favorite responsibility, it gives me the opportunity to see the changes happening in our cafeteria. In my observation, kids are actually ordering and eating the healthier options that they are offered. I recently experimented with changing my diet to be gluten free and I've never felt better. I didn't lose weight, but I lost my craving for carbohydrates after a few days and my focus on everything else seemed to be a little keener. It lasted about 6 weeks and I only fell off the wagon with my mother's bread stuffing at Thanksgiving. I instantly felt cravings for all things with flour. If I try it again I will pay more attention to see if I can tell if my diet really does effect my brain.

This is very interesting. I saw Dr. Perlmutter on the Dr. Oz show last week. Dr. Perlmutter suggests that we need to stay away from most carbs including many fruits, grains, rice and root vegetables. He talks about how our low fat, high carb diets are actually shrinking our brains causing more instances of alzeheimer, dementia and ADHD. Simple life style changes of going to a higher fat, low carb diet will reverse this trend. We have to be careful that people don't translate this recommendation of adding fat to our diets into raiding the cookie aisle and super sizing at MacDonald's!!

Wow! Thanks for the helpful info. on gluten and other foods that can impact our brain health.

eSchoolNews is a monthly publication that comes to me via email (I'm sure many of you receive it) that is chock full of articles about technology in education. September's issue covered many topics but one in particular stood out to me, Does Research Support Flipped Learning?, intrigued me because the sub title suggests that it might work and improve student learning. A few key points include "Students are actively involved in their own learning.." and in many cases this method "..maximizes time with the instructor and increases the focus on higher-order thinking skills." WOW! Those are two of my favorite skills for students to master. The article also points out four essential elements of a flipped classroom - cleverly calling them the "four pillars of F-L-I-P" (Flexible Environment, Learning Culture, Intentional Content, Professional Educators.) A short article that does a good job of highlights the trend of a flipped classroom.

I flipped my intro to library. I really loved the format of Monday night's class and immediately flipped my intro to library to Advisory Research Challenge: Locating and Evaluating Information. Six research challenges, one that everyone had to do and the rest in pairs. The focus was on RMHS and RPL resources for RMHS students, which are many and varied and very sophisticated. Total fun. Time flew. Kids had to dive in, do the research and then present. It was so apparent to discern what needed to be clarified and/or emphasized. Thanks G-Dawg1

Here is an article from the IRA with great mentor text suggestions for Writer's Workshop.

I love this topic. I have always believed that using picture books beyond elementary school is a great idea. Mitali Perkins will be our visiting author this May. Her latest book Open Mic: Riffs on Life Between Cultures in Ten Voices might be another useful resource for teachers interested in working with short texts. I believe she only edited the stories that were picked. I have not read it yet, but I just copied and pasted the information from Mitali's website for you to look over. The public library will be ordering mulitple copies and the middle school will hopefully do the same. Though we lack a funding source, it might be a consideration for some type of all school (middle school) read. "Listen in as ten YA authors-some familiar, some new-use their own brand of humor to share their stories about growing up between cultures. Edited by Mitali Perkins, this collection of fiction and nonfiction embraces a mix of stayles as diverse as their authors, from laugh-out-loud funny to wry, ironic, or poignant, in prose, poetry, and comic form. With contributions by Cherry Cheva, Varian Johnson, Naomi Shihab Nye, Mitali Perkins, Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, Debby Rigaud, Francisco X. Stork, Gene Luen Yang, and David Yoo."

I'm glad that I'm not the only one looking for quality mentor texts, and am also glad that others found the information from the IRA helpful. Thank you for adding information of your own. It's all so informative. There are some great resources out there!

Thought provoking article that stresses even more that developmentally Kindergarteners are not ready for the curriculum that they face.

Kerry, thanks for sharing this. This article was well worth reading. It makes me sad to think of what we are continuing to do to young kids, and scared for their future. Just thinking back to when I was in kindergarten, I remember lots of time to explore and play in different stations, including building and dress up stations. We did plenty of learning through play, and still all learned to read and make it through school. I'm in the middle school and don't always know exactly what's going on in the lower elementary schools, but it does seem like things are continually being pushed to younger and younger ages. The math that the sixth graders are doing now is similar to what I did in 8th grade algebra. Many of them are not developmentally ready for it, and then feel like failures if they can't get it. At an even younger level, I'm seeing it with my nephew who's 3 1/2 and in preschool. His teacher told my sister-in-law that he's behind because he can't write his name yet. Now she's concerned about it of course, but I'm thinking that's a little premature. And the last thing he needs at this age is someone trying to force him to write his name - he'll already be on a track to hating school..... I'm going to share this article with her. Also, when they talked about learning to read, I loved the quote about kids who learned to read later showed better understanding because they had had time to develop more language at an earlier age.Thanks for sharing.

Another great post - I agree with so much of what this article states, and I hear so many other educators and parents expressing concern about the trend that has been developing in all elementary grades, but especially kindergarten. The question is, if we all agree that it's not working, how do we change it?

I am looking to get my students involved in using Skype to connect with other schools and people in the United States and around the world. In the process of searching for different programs I came across this article about an Australian school that connected with students at a Ugandan refugee camp. "Here & There is aimed at raising awareness around issues facing refugees among Australian schoolchildren, their parents and the wider population. It is purpose-designed to dovetail with the Australian geography curriculum, ensuring participating children attain maximum educational benefit while undertaking this life-changing opportunity to share their thoughts and experiences with children who have very different lives." I would love to get my students involved in something like this so that they can get a deeper understanding of another culture and make connections. I would be interested to hear if anyone has any experince with something like this and could offer suggestions. Thanks!

Hi Chis, I would love to work on this with you - with the iPads you have it should be easy to do.. Let me know when you are planning on doing it.. ~Meg

Importance of social networking not only for teachers but students as well. Very interesting..

This article brings up some really good points about the types of skills students need and how educators can make sure they are developing theses skills. Having students design and participate in PLCs is a great way to start developing the skills that are going to be essential in their future. Thanks for sharing.

Interesting article, Meg. I started following the guy that was mentioned, Paul Moss, on twitter, and hope to get some good ideas. I love the idea of starting to get kids networking in an educational way. They are already experts on doing it socially! If we have another EdCamp format, I'd love to have a discussion about what PLNs could mean for students, even as young as middle school.

This article could be a page right out of Pink's Drive since it offers suggestions as to how IT companies should involve employees in the strategic planning for the organizations' ultimate business visions. Since 80% of the 100,000 IT workers interviewed for this article responded that they value career development over salary increases, the piece suggests that IT organizations allow employees the opportunity to initiate and create new projects within any future goal setting structure. According to the collected data, these valued contributions would far outweigh any deficits in compensation as IT workers' satisfaction with achievement seems to take precedence over any form of resentment over monetary deficits. Again, Pink's theories about autonomy, mastery and purpose make sense in terms of what people value in their lives and the workplace.

I started using Vine late last year to post videos of our students doing great things. (Reading to first graders, working together at field day, encouraging one another during a Smart Board review game, etc.) This Edutopia blog post gives TONS of links to really great ideas for using Vine with kids as a way to assess their understanding. Some of them are really funny and insightful. I know there is some nasty stuff out there on Vine and Instagram, but if we teachers don't show kids how to use these social media outlets in a positive way, who will? Right? I think I might give some of these ideas a shot.

Thanks, Kerry. I haven't used Vine before, though I've seen it used. I'm definitely interested in trying it out this year. It's amazing how creative some people can be in six seconds! Taylor and I recently started using Instagram to post what's going on in our classrooms. We are loving it so far. It's something that the kids are on anyway, so the interest is there. They love going on to "like" pictures of themselves and their peers, and even "like" the picture Taylor posts of the homework board! It's also a fast and easy way to keep parents informed about what's going on in the classroom on a daily basis. I also love that even though we're only in October, it's a photo log of the many things that we've done already this year. I look forward to giving the video capabilities a try.

I've thought a lot about this topic and how BYOD makes it so plain which students are haves and which are have-nots. We are lucky to be in the cohort and to have supplemental devices in our classrooms. How can we make BYOD more universal without making economic inequity so obvious in more classrooms. It seems unrealistic to put 10 iPads in every classroom district wide, so what is the answer?

Kerry, This is a really important article, and I'm so glad you posted it. I'm acutely aware of inequity in my classroom as well, but because I teach smaller classes, I've been able to skirt it so far. I agree that it is important to raise the question so that we can discuss it openly. It's bound to spark passionate opinions and discussions, but the issue of access is one of social justice in a way, and I agree that it's important for us to address it as much as we can in the public school setting.

Beth Holland is an insightful, creative educator who I saw at MassCUE yesterday so I decided to follow her and see what else she had to say. This is an interesting and insightful discussion of the potential positives and negatives of screen time. A good reminder to keep it meaningful, and as we have all said, avoid "technology for the sake of technology." "Television rots your brain." In a similar vein, video games turn your mind to mush, and staring at a screen for too long potentially makes you a zombie. In 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) published a report suggesting that children under two should not have any screen time.

The three questions this article asks are something I think a lot about when using the iPads in my classroom. Last year when I first started using them in my classroom they were mostly being used as mobile educational gaming devices. The kids were using apps that reinforced the phonics and math concepts we were learning, but they weren't really going anything further than that. They certainly were engaged and learning so I don't feel that it was time wasted, however I always knew there was more they could be doing with the devices. The third piece, is it empowering, was the piece I was missing last year and am trying to incorporate more this year.

Great article. I agree there needs to be a balance with screen time and how we should use that time. The 3 questions of screen time being appropriate, meaningful, and empowering are key to allowing students take charge of their learning. The article states "… teachers had found educational apps to reinforce math and reading concepts, the students passively interacted with content rather than constructing understanding. The interaction primarily consisted of students just tapping on a screen." I feel it is important for us to limit these types of apps and find the few that are going to allow students to "construct understanding" and apply content they learn outside of screen time. To me, this strikes a good balance. At MassCUE this past Thursday, I attended a session by a district that made the decision to use apps that allowed for creativity. They recognized that there were many apps for gaming and skill drills, but they wanted their students to be able to use their devices to apply learning in a meaningful way. This was music to my ears. I applaud their efforts, and based on the examples of student work that were shown, it's working.

I think this is an important read about a local school system and early childhood assessments.

Thank you for sharing this, Janet. I also think it's an important read for everyone. While I'm in the middle school, it does often seem that expectations are moving to lower and lower ages. What our students are doing in math this year is what I remember struggling with in 8th grade. Many are successful, but others may not be developmentally ready for it. It's worth noting that as things have changed over the years, schools have felt more and more of a need to focus on mental health - are we pushing these kids too far, beginning in early childhood? I even see it in the demands of preschool with my three year old nephew. He was already marked as "behind" on a few skills. Really? I'm not sure that I'd agree, and not just because he's my nephew. I do think it's important to have high expectations for all students, but we also need to make sure that they're realistic, and in process, that we're not losing sight of the children in front of us, and their immediate needs.

This article explains how advancements in technology have enhanced the humanities. The digitization of texts combined with statistical analysis software has enabled literary scholars to analyze literature in a whole new way. The unprecedented techniques mix algorithms and written expressions to detect the frequency of word usage, nuances in the structure of sentences, and common thematic elements in and among texts. The digital analysis of literature provides a new type of lens for scholars to examine works to learn more about the cultural contexts in which the pieces were written.

I frequently find myself "defending" the impact of the Internet and technology on students' desire and ability to read and write. To me, it seems that the Internet has increased the amount of reading students do now, especially outside of school. Sure formats have changed but mostly in the direction of concision, something English teachers have been championing forever. Gone are the gatekeepers around who gets to publish (i.e., be heard, gain international attention for a cause, etc.) Never mind the access to ivy league courses...

Great evidence for the potential for taking visual notes.

I have a few students who are doing this! Mixing visual media with their notes in Evernote, Penultimate, Skitch, Google Drive, etc. They included images of European Romantic art with their analysis of scholarly article excerpts today. Seriously, their notebooks are amazing and Ovenell-Carter takes it to even another level. Can't wait to see what they're doing in a year or two once more students are coming to school with their own tablets instead of having to rely on ours. Next question: How do we convince parents of the value of this kind of note-taking and that putting a tablet in their child's hand will change the way they think about education?

I love these notes and took pictures in sessions at MassCue to jog my own brain. How do we encourage young ones to keep doing this as they grow in their learning in school. I watch the early childhood group already doing this naturally. I wonder when my own children will do this.

We've all experienced difficult student behaviors in our classrooms; at least some of it seems to go with the territory. But it's important for us to try to understand why our students may be acting the way they are and try to meet them where they are. I used some of these approaches in my classroom, and what I discovered led me to use 1:1 iPad technology to help differentiate for my students and meet them where they are educationally. This article has some very helpful, practical approaches to functional behavioral assessment.

Thanks for sharing this. I like language, checklists, forms, etc that can change our team meetings in middle school from endlessly perseverating on one child to no avail to actually creating an action plan.

Hi Annemarie. This is very helpful for me, as "special education" strategies are a big gap in my learning, although these seem like the mainstream would also benefit. I find this really good for classroom management and for setting a welcoming vibe. As a specialist, I'm often having to create buy-in with near strangers because I'm assisting a class. While I'm positive and empathetic by nature, here are some concrete things that I can do to make sure I don't lose students along the way.