Fair/Unfair request to make of my students?

peanuthead

Hi all

Just wondering if this is a fair or unfair thing to to:

I have a very promising group of first year students, really great guys and they produce some fantastic work!

One problem is that we haven't read anything this year yet as the library of books that we have does not contain a single class set (and it is well resourced) that at least 10-15 of the class haven't already read.

Parents were on to me about this at the PT meeting and once I explained myself and the fact that I am trying to work around the problem, they were fine.

I have managed to get a book, but one I am unfamiliar with so I want to read it first - Also I can already tell its going to be pretty bad and not the exciting read I had in mind for them.

I'm wondering if you guys think this is a fair enough request for over the easter holidays:

Seeing as the parents were eager for their students to be reading, I was thinking of giving the class the challenge of reading a novel over the Easter. That's 2 weeks, plus they can pretty much choose to read whatever they want. They will have to present a book review on it when they return, but I will give them time to do that in the week they come back.

Too much of a 'teacher from hell' thing to do?

spurious

Not at all.
'Tis more teachers from hell we need.


Make sure to give them notes and sample answers and basically do the reviews for them after Easter. (not)

peanuthead

peanuthead wrote: »

Too much of a 'teacher from hell' thing to do?

Not at all. Get them to work as hard over Easter as you'll be doing - only fair.



They've made it as far as April without reading a book? :eek:

code187.2010

Sounds like a great plan, otherwise they'll only be on the xbox for 2 weeks.

peanuthead

Thanks a lot

I was reluctant as they're 'only first years' but to be honest, they admit themselves that they get less work in secondary than they did in junior school.

I'm going to go ahead with it so!

Peanut

iMax

Don't know if you mean first year primary, secondary or college, but as a parent, I think it's a great idea, just a suggestion to make it the same book and have them write a report, with questions from yourself.

This should be done several times per school year.

niall3r

Homework over Easter is fine! Alot of teachers give work to be done over breaks. . . . . right???????

TheDriver

i think HW for exam classes is fine over Easter but over the years, I am more inclined to let them have their break. If they are hard working they deserve the break, if they are lazy then they will only come back with excuses anyway

solerina

Reading a book over Easter isnt really home work....maybe get them to read it over easter and write a review the first week back...that way they have the enjoyment of redaing the book over Easter but with no 'real homework' until they go back to school when they write their review.

For the avoidance of doubt.....


.....I'd let them have their holidays.

peanuthead

Deleted User wrote: »

Not at all. Get them to work as hard over Easter as you'll be doing - only fair.



They've made it as far as April without reading a book? :eek:

As part of English class Ulysses, yes.

The reason for that is very clear in my original post.

Not sure if the above post is sarcastic or not, hard to tell in these situations, but it's not about making them work hard, it's about the fact that we haven't read a book together as a class and it's not looking likely that we will end up reading a decent one together at all this year.

I have expressed my concerns about this to parents who are in complete agreement with me that they should be reading more. I would like to foster a love of reading in my students as would their parents so I thought the best way to do this was to allow them to pick a book of their choice to read over the Easter.

Just so we are clear by the way, I told my English class about this idea yesterday, and 80% of them didn't even bat an eyelid to this request, with one asking me "Does it have to be fiction?" So the more I think about it, the less I feel like I'm stealing their holidays from them.

peanuthead

solerina wrote: »

Reading a book over Easter isnt really home work....maybe get them to read it over easter and write a review the first week back...that way they have the enjoyment of redaing the book over Easter but with no 'real homework' until they go back to school when they write their review.

Thanks, this was the idea. I agree that reading isn't homework really, now to convince the students!

peanuthead

peanuthead wrote: »

Not sure if the above post is sarcastic or not, hard to tell in these situations....

At one level it is. I guess my view is that holidays are holidays, and let them have their holidays. Jaysus knows they'll spend many a long year watching the clock and the calendar in their working lives.

In fairness, that's easy for me to say. My son is a voracious reader (I can barely recall a time when he wasn't), and he'd spend a lot of his holidays reading whether he was told to at school or not. But that isn't the case for everyone at that age, I s'pose.

peanuthead

Deleted User wrote: »

At one level it is. I guess my view is that holidays are holidays, and let them have their holidays. Jaysus knows they'll spend many a long year watching the clock and the calendar in their working lives.

In fairness, that's easy for me to say. My son is a voracious reader (I can barely recall a time when he wasn't), and he'd spend a lot of his holidays reading whether he was told to at school or not. But that isn't the case for everyone at that age, I s'pose.

Yeah you do have a point, and I know that, hence me setting up the thread here. One part of me thinks it's totally acceptable, another thinks it's a little cruel.

I think I will go ahead with it though, any parent who feels stongly enough against the issue is sure to let me know I'm sure!!

P.

rodgered

A perfect request if you ask me, go ahead with it!