3H Jiayou for Common Test!!!
Best of luck! And must write really fast!!! Jiayou!
Kai Chun
Friday, February 26, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
The Myth about Homeworks by Times
Sachem was the last straw. Or was it Kiva? My 12-year-old daughter and I had been drilling social-studies key words for more than an hour. It was 11 p.m. Our entire evening had, as usual, consisted of homework and conversations (a.k.a. nagging) about homework. She was tired and fed up. I was tired and fed up. The words wouldn't stick. They meant nothing to her. They didn't mean much to me either. After all, when have I ever used sachem in a sentence--until just now?
As the summer winds down, I'm dreading scenes like that one from seventh grade. Already the carefree August nights have given way to meaningful conversations (a.k.a. nagging) about the summer reading that didn't get done. So what could be more welcome than two new books assailing this bane of modern family life: The Homework Myth (Da Capo Press; 243 pages), by Alfie Kohn, the prolific, perpetual critic of today's test-driven schools, and The Case Against Homework (Crown; 290 pages), a cri de coeur by two moms, lawyer Sara Bennett and journalist Nancy Kalish.
Both books cite studies, surveys, statistics, along with some hair-raising anecdotes, on how a rising tide of dull, useless assignments is oppressing families and making kids hate learning. A few highlights from the books and my own investigation:
• According to a 2004 national survey of 2,900 American children conducted by the University of Michigan, the amount of time spent on homework is up 51% since 1981.
• Most of that increase reflects bigger loads for little kids. An academic study found that whereas students ages 6 to 8 did an average of 52 min. of homework a week in 1981, they were toiling 128 min. weekly by 1997. And that's before No Child Left Behind kicked in. An admittedly less scientific poll of parents conducted this year for AOL and the Associated Press found that elementary school students were averaging 78 min. a night.
• The onslaught comes despite the fact that an exhaustive review by the nation's top homework scholar, Duke University's Harris Cooper, concluded that homework does not measurably improve academic achievement for kids in grade school. That's right: all the sweat and tears do not make Johnny a better reader or mathematician.
• Too much homework brings diminishing returns. Cooper's analysis of dozens of studies found that kids who do some homework in middle and high school score somewhat better on standardized tests, but doing more than 60 to 90 min. a night in middle school and more than 2 hr. in high school is associated with, gulp, lower scores.
• Teachers in many of the nations that outperform the U.S. on student achievement tests--such as Japan, Denmark and the Czech Republic--tend to assign less homework than American teachers, but instructors in low-scoring countries like Greece, Thailand and Iran tend to pile it on.
Success on standardized tests is, of course, only one measure of learning--and only one purported goal of homework. Educators, including Cooper, tend to defend homework by saying it builds study habits, self-discipline and time-management skills. But there's also evidence that homework sours kids' attitudes toward school. "It's one thing to say we are wasting kids' time and straining parent-kid relationships," Kohn told me, "but what's unforgivable is if homework is damaging our kids' interest in learning, undermining their curiosity."Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1376208-1,00.html#ixzz0fVmt0gxL
As the summer winds down, I'm dreading scenes like that one from seventh grade. Already the carefree August nights have given way to meaningful conversations (a.k.a. nagging) about the summer reading that didn't get done. So what could be more welcome than two new books assailing this bane of modern family life: The Homework Myth (Da Capo Press; 243 pages), by Alfie Kohn, the prolific, perpetual critic of today's test-driven schools, and The Case Against Homework (Crown; 290 pages), a cri de coeur by two moms, lawyer Sara Bennett and journalist Nancy Kalish.
Both books cite studies, surveys, statistics, along with some hair-raising anecdotes, on how a rising tide of dull, useless assignments is oppressing families and making kids hate learning. A few highlights from the books and my own investigation:
• According to a 2004 national survey of 2,900 American children conducted by the University of Michigan, the amount of time spent on homework is up 51% since 1981.
• Most of that increase reflects bigger loads for little kids. An academic study found that whereas students ages 6 to 8 did an average of 52 min. of homework a week in 1981, they were toiling 128 min. weekly by 1997. And that's before No Child Left Behind kicked in. An admittedly less scientific poll of parents conducted this year for AOL and the Associated Press found that elementary school students were averaging 78 min. a night.
• The onslaught comes despite the fact that an exhaustive review by the nation's top homework scholar, Duke University's Harris Cooper, concluded that homework does not measurably improve academic achievement for kids in grade school. That's right: all the sweat and tears do not make Johnny a better reader or mathematician.
• Too much homework brings diminishing returns. Cooper's analysis of dozens of studies found that kids who do some homework in middle and high school score somewhat better on standardized tests, but doing more than 60 to 90 min. a night in middle school and more than 2 hr. in high school is associated with, gulp, lower scores.
• Teachers in many of the nations that outperform the U.S. on student achievement tests--such as Japan, Denmark and the Czech Republic--tend to assign less homework than American teachers, but instructors in low-scoring countries like Greece, Thailand and Iran tend to pile it on.
Success on standardized tests is, of course, only one measure of learning--and only one purported goal of homework. Educators, including Cooper, tend to defend homework by saying it builds study habits, self-discipline and time-management skills. But there's also evidence that homework sours kids' attitudes toward school. "It's one thing to say we are wasting kids' time and straining parent-kid relationships," Kohn told me, "but what's unforgivable is if homework is damaging our kids' interest in learning, undermining their curiosity."Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1376208-1,00.html#ixzz0fVmt0gxL
Saturday, February 13, 2010
happy cny
Hi H=H=H (covalent bonds..HAHA)
HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!!!
新春快乐，身体健康，万事如意，学业进步，福如东海，寿比南山，虎年快乐！
Thanks for the celebration and lo hei in the classroom on friday! Remember to collect "taxes" from your relatives this CNY!
ENJOY!
HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!!!
新春快乐，身体健康，万事如意，学业进步，福如东海，寿比南山，虎年快乐！
Thanks for the celebration and lo hei in the classroom on friday! Remember to collect "taxes" from your relatives this CNY!
ENJOY!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Hellos 3H ! (:
Lydia here :D
yays , third post :D :D :D
now ii'm currently at ....'s house ( LOL , she banned me from typing her name , & insisted tht ii put 4 dots xD )
happy guessing who barhhs ( anws , she's in our class derhhs :D )
anws , HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR PPLE ! :D
and congrats for getting th 1st for th CNY deco today xD
our hard efforts finally paid off .
hahaaas . xD
hmms , everyone should find today's concert fun barhhs ? ( with th exception of me , ii was giving out mandarin oranges whn youe guys were happily enjoying th air con in th MPH , seeing & listening to th pictures and results of th class deco competition xD kiddings . just lame-ing around xD )
hmms . shall upload few pictures of th class deco , ii took today , later whn ii go home ?
since ii don't have th adapter with me now (:
ii think shalln't bug th comp for too long lerhhs .
before "...." gets mad @ me .
hahaas .
// edited
okays , here's my adapter :D
so here're some random class deco / celebration pictures ( random really means random xD )
Th mini buffet ? (:
Uhhs , srys , this ones' kinda blur ;X
Random one (:
Aww , ii love th 2 tigers :D
Class motor :D
Th bottlecaps are v. cool horhhs ? (:
(:
:D
okays , ii'm done with th uber random + lame post lerhhs ;P
byes pple ! :D
cya whn sch reopens on Wednesday :D
Lydia here :D
yays , third post :D :D :D
now ii'm currently at ....'s house ( LOL , she banned me from typing her name , & insisted tht ii put 4 dots xD )
happy guessing who barhhs ( anws , she's in our class derhhs :D )
anws , HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR PPLE ! :D
and congrats for getting th 1st for th CNY deco today xD
our hard efforts finally paid off .
hahaaas . xD
hmms , everyone should find today's concert fun barhhs ? ( with th exception of me , ii was giving out mandarin oranges whn youe guys were happily enjoying th air con in th MPH , seeing & listening to th pictures and results of th class deco competition xD kiddings . just lame-ing around xD )
hmms . shall upload few pictures of th class deco , ii took today , later whn ii go home ?
since ii don't have th adapter with me now (:
ii think shalln't bug th comp for too long lerhhs .
before "...." gets mad @ me .
hahaas .
// edited
okays , here's my adapter :D
so here're some random class deco / celebration pictures ( random really means random xD )
Th mini buffet ? (:
Uhhs , srys , this ones' kinda blur ;X
Random one (:
Aww , ii love th 2 tigers :D
Class motor :D
Th bottlecaps are v. cool horhhs ? (:
(:
:D
okays , ii'm done with th uber random + lame post lerhhs ;P
byes pple ! :D
cya whn sch reopens on Wednesday :D
HI (:
natalie here.
i hope the class deco went well,
my fingers are crossed for the results tmr!
3H rocks :D
anyways,
i know that many of us are really stressed with all the homework,
and our teachers all stressing us,
them bombarding us with their high expectations,
but we can do it!
they believe in us,
because we have the ability to achieve these goals,
so we should believe in ourselves too!
3H'1O <3
` Vroom Vroom and we're off - to the road of success!~
- Natalie (: #04
natalie here.
i hope the class deco went well,
my fingers are crossed for the results tmr!
3H rocks :D
anyways,
i know that many of us are really stressed with all the homework,
and our teachers all stressing us,
them bombarding us with their high expectations,
but we can do it!
they believe in us,
because we have the ability to achieve these goals,
so we should believe in ourselves too!
3H'1O <3
` Vroom Vroom and we're off - to the road of success!~
- Natalie (: #04
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)