Snow Days

[BmorePat87]

(10-30-2019, 10:31 AM)Au165 Wrote: It's possible, and it may just be her way of simply saying it's an overreach by schools which I do agree with to some extent. We are being told kids are addicted to screens and spending too much time in front of screens, but we are now forcing them to be on screens to do a required activity like school work. One could argue they'd be on screens anyways, however that is just sidestepping the fact that now a government entity is requiring it. 

I personally despise homework and am against anything that is pushing kids to do more work away from school. I think the issue is our inefficient way of teaching children not that they need to do more work while they are away from school. My favorite are the big projects that teachers assign over breaks as if they want to make sure that kids can't escape the stress even over a designated break.

So my homework for Government class is this:

Quote:The goal of this course is to help students learn to engage in critical and analytical thinking, making use of identified historical thinking skills while developing the skills and understandings needed to promote civility, engage compassionately, value empathy, and respect the dignity of their peers.

 
There are many ways to demonstrate mastery of the skills needed to be a citizen with civic literacy. As such, homework assignments will allow for flexibility in demonstrating these skills. Students will be able to choose between multiple tasks and means of presenting. After completing a task, students will have demonstrated a deeper understanding of one or more relevant course topics. 
 
Examples of acceptable tasks can include but are not limited to:
 
-Summarize and reflect on a chosen news article from a reputable source
-Discuss a relevant topic with parents/family/friends/guardians and reflect on it
-Create an engaging social media post about a relevant topic and reflect on it
-Look up a topic of your choice, summarizing your research and reflecting on it
-Create and conduct a 3-5 question poll with 20 participants and submit the raw data
-Analyze and compare 2 reputable polls
-Volunteer in your community and reflect on it
-Create a one page information sheet on a current political candidate
-Read an amendment, summarizing it and reflecting on its impact
-Choose a court case and write a one page brief about it
-Read a SCOTUS opinion, summarizing and reflecting on it
-Create a petition on the White House website that summarizes and issue and presents a course of action for it
-Complete political cartoon analysis using the guidelines listed on the analysis worksheet 
-Write a letter to one of your elected officials discussing an issue
-Create your own task with my approval

I tell them that all assignments should be 250 words or more. They have 4 weeks to complete the first 2 and 4 weeks to complete the last 2. You can only complete one type of assignment twice a quarter. They can hand write it, type it, make a presentation, make a poster, schedule a meeting with me to present it verbally, etc. 

The idea is they're practicing what they learn in real life. I want them to make the connection between what we learn and what they see around them. No projects over break. All work is done in class besides those 4 "good citizenship" tasks.