Recurring homework assignment that I don't get.

[deborah_r]

DS1 keeps getting this homework assignment every month or so. You are given a topic and your child is to think of a question to ask about it. Tonight it is team work. He NEVER has any questions about these topics. I always have to come up with the question and somehow make it his idea to ask the question. I truly hate this assignment. Honestly, not very many questions come to my mind. I've been talking with him for about 20 minutes about it, and still no questions.

Help? And why do I have so much trouble with this?

[JTsMom]

What are the questions used for? Do they just turn them in and that's it, or do they use them as a springboard for class discussions?

And who is the question supposed to be posed to? The teacher, the parents, the class? Are there any guidelines, or is it just "come up with a question"?

[egoldber]

I would e-mail the teacher, tell her he's having trouble and ask for ideas/input on what this is for. And can you skip it.

[KpbS]

Maybe you could get the ball rolling if you asked him what kind of situation would you really need teamwork? Do you remember being part of a team--what is best about being a team member? etc.

Maybe you could pretend to not understand what the topic is. Get him to explain the idea/concept to you. "Teamwork?? What's that?" Or get him going thinking of synonyms/opposites/homonyms etc.

hth

[sariana]

Are all the topics single words like this? Years ago I worked at a school that used "Lifeskills" and "Lifelong Guidelines." Teamwork was one of our Lifeskills. I taught language arts, and I would integrate these themes into my lessons. For example, I would ask the students to identify which Lifeskills a character used in a story and what the result was.

Is it possible your DS's schools uses something like this, and they focus on a new Lifeskill (or whatever) each month? It still seems like a bizarre assignment, though. It seems incomplete somehow.

[deborah_r]

It comes home with a litle sheet explaining they are doing a unit on "x" topic. Other ones I remember have been shadows, wind...and the rest have escaped my memory. We are to send in a question he has about the topic, and also send an artifact and tell why it is related to the topic. I usually send a book that is somehow related, but usually DS is not able to think of the artifact on his own. It all just seems very forced for this age. I feel like it is a homework assignment for me, but then I feel like he should contribute to it, but he doesn't and then it is frustrating.

[JTsMom]

Ok, I get it now. How about something like this- on the ride to/from school/the grocery store/wherever- when you have him trapped in the car in other words ;), ask him to tell you something he knows about teamwork (or whatever the subject is). If you need to prompt him more, ask things like, what does _______ mean to you? Have you ever used/seen/heard ____________? What's something you like about __________? What's something you don't like about it? Have you talked about _________ in school? Have you read any books/done any projects involving _________? What kinds of things do you think your friends might bring in this month? Where have you used __________? Who have you done ________ with?

Try thinking in terms of "Wh" questions- who, what, when, where, why. I'm not saying ask every one of these, just throwing out some ideas.

Maybe share a funny or interesting story from your own experience if you can come up with one- you know, just have a little convo about the topic. Maybe if you turn it around and demonstrate how to ask question about the topic, it will inspire him to ask some of his own. I'd also tell him that it doesn't necessarily have to be a question he doesn't know the answer to- just a question.

To get more specific, if I was working on the concept of teamwork with DS, I'd do something like this:

1. I might use an example like our quicky clean up time we do after dinner. We all run around picking up things for 5 mins.
2. I'd talk about it in general, and name some good points about it. For example, "It puts a huge dent in the clutter, and it's always amazing how much better things look. It makes me feel good to see everyone helping, and it gives me more time to spend with you and Dad doing other things. Plus it's more fun to do work together."
3. Then I might ask him what he thinks about working as a team in that case.
4. If that went well, I might turn it around and ask him something a little more complicated, like "Can you think of a time that teamwork would have helped you, but you had to do something all alone?" or "What's something bad about teamwork?" If he didn't have an anser- bam, there's his question.
5. The object to bring in- I might use something like one of the things DS had picked up the night before, or a picture of our family (team). I like your book idea too. A sports ball, or team cap would be another option.


I think that if you walk him through it like that, it might help him to start thinking in those terms a bit more, and he might slowly start to do more of it on his own. If you still what to encourage him to do more things, give him hints on asking questions- maybe even make a list of hints- like using Wh words to start the question, or thinking about his own experiences, etc. A lot of times, the Wh concept is something worked on in the early grades, so it's probably not totally foreign to him.

I'm betting the teacher just wants to spur a conversation about things, and get the kids thinking about that subject, so I think any attempt you make will probably get the job done. Don't put too much pressure on yourself. This is such an open-ended assignment, it can't really be wrong.

[deborah_r]

Another thought I had about this today is I wish the teacher would give this assignment and have it due in a few days. I get home at 6pm (DH usually picks up DS around 5pm or earlier from afterscholl care) and we have this mad rush to do homework, which is OK when it's a worksheet or something. But I feel like one evening is not enough time to dedicate to this assignment, to give me enough time to have any meaningful discussion with DS about it.

ETA: Thanks for your thoughtful response Lori. I had been trying to frame it in terms of who, what , where, when...but was not coming up with much!

[JTsMom]

You're welcome. :) And I agree, 1 night is not enough time. Can you get your DH to do some of it on the way home? No reason you should suffer alone! ;)

[egoldber]

Have you asked him why he has a hard time with this?

[newg]

Another thought to ask the teacher....are there specific skills she wants him to practice using while completeing this assignment.....or a process she wants him to practice using....? I would send home assignments where students where suppose to practice using specific types of skills....but if the parents didn't know that the assignments would have been very confusing.
It could be these assignments are meant to provide your ds with an opportunity outside of the classroom to practice something he is doing in the room. Let her know he is struggling with the assignment and she may be able to provide you with some tips or guidelines.
Your ds is in first/second grade I'm guessing (sorry if I'm way off..pretty tired!)
I'm guessing your teacher starts a new unit and a way to get the students excited and involved is by having each of them bring a question in...that way they are "supposedly" motivated to find out the answer to their question during the course of the unit. They bring an artifact in to help spur that curiosity about the unit...and in the end see if the artifact is still valid once the unit is over and their questions (hopefully) have been answered.

If the assignment is given one day and due the next and that's not enough time for you maybe there would be a way the teacher could give you an "advance copy" of the question....especially if your ds is struggling..........the teacher wants it to be his question as much as you do...otherwise he won't be as motivated to learn during the lessons......she should have the question figured out far enough ahead of time anyways...so maybe she could email it to you a few days earlier or if she does a class newsletter or something maybe she could include it in there...........
that way you'll have some extra time to get prepared and give ds a little more time on it.
Oh...some good examples of teamwork would be something ds can't do on his own...needs help from a "teammate" to complete it...a puzzle....playing baseball or tennis...or another game.....
Shadow: something ds would notice had a shadow....a rock...or something else outside
Wind: something that shows ds the wind is blowing...

Sorry this is so long...I use to teach 'till dd came along! Sounds like a fun assigment if the teacher can be a little more helpful!!!