Bookworm - Big Ideas for Busy People

Bookworm by Email

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Welcome to Bookworm - Again!!

OK . . . so it's been over a YEAR since my last post. My world has been rocked by many things - books, articles, movies, conversations, speakers, websites - since July, 2005, but I've been immersed in a couple of big projects and blogging fell by the wayside.

Mel Levine was my 2005/06 big event. Author of three best-selling books, A Mind at a Time, The Myth of Laziness, and Ready or Not, Here Life Comes, Dr. Levine is one of the nation's preeminent expert on student learning. Beginning in spring 2005, I co-chaired a committee made up of parents and staff from each of the five schools in our District. We ultimately distributed about 150 of Levine's books to staff throughout the District, hosted Dr. Levine for a presentation to over 800 parents on the evening of March 14th, 2006, followed by an all-day workshop with our entire District staff on March 15th, raised over $80,000 in six weeks from the community to fund staff who wanted to attend Schools Attuned, a program for educators based on Dr. Levine's work, and ultimately hosted three Schools Attuned sessions in our community during Summer 2006. Sixty five staff, representing every school in the District, attended Schools Attuned and Mel Levine, once a relative unknown around here, has become a household word. Check out the All Kinds of Minds website for more info! Also, read the great interview with Dr. Levine on "Celebrate Strengths, Nuture Affinities" linked on the front page of the All Kinds of Minds website (All Kinds of Minds.)  It's the top item under The News and is an interview  from the September, 2006 edition of Educational Leadership Magazine.

Dr. Levine's pearl of wisdom "You build your life around your strengths and affinities" is one of my most-treasured parenting mantras.

The Homework Myth

I love author Alfie Kohn and his newest book, The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing - or at least the summary he's written (see below) - is a must read for all of us who lead homework-impacted lives.

Kids may be right after all: Homework stinks

By Alfie Kohn

With the start of the new school year, students once again are shifting impatiently in their seats, working their way through an endless pile of worksheets. And that's after they come home.

A new study confirms what kids and parents already know: The "tougher standards" fad that has American education in its grip has meant more and more homework for younger and younger children.

Several years ago, we learned that the proportion of 6- to 8-year-olds who reported having homework on a given day had climbed from 34% in 1981 to 58% in 1997 and that the weekly time spent studying more than doubled during the same period.

Last month, professor Sandra Hofferth at the University of Maryland released an update to that study. Now, the proportion of young children who had homework on a specific day jumped to 64%, and the time they spent on it climbed by a third. Homework rates for 6- to 8-year-olds are virtually equivalent to those for 9- to 12-year-olds. And let's not talk about the high school workload.

What the research shows is disconcerting. Equally important, however, is what the research doesn't show: that homework is necessary or beneficial. We reassure ourselves that it's all worth it because homework raises achievement, teaches independence and good work habits.

Remarkably, however, the data to support those beliefs just don't exist: