Reply to AP CLASSES why so much homework?

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Reply to "AP CLASSES why so much homework?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Forget AP Classes, those are college level and expected to have a lot of work. Why is my freshman in History honors drowning in SO MUCH homework? Every weekday evening and most of the weekend is spent ONLY on finishing up History assignments. And no, the teacher does not give any time in class to work on hw. Kid manages to finish all the other classes hw during Study Hall and comes home and does only history work every day. I have a suspicion that the history teacher is deliberately overloading the hw so that the kids will drop down to lower level. The same teacher is teaching AP World also and I suspect they are trying to scare away the kids from AP World with too much work. Thankfully, the other teachers are giving normal hw.[/quote]

+1 omg bless you. My poor kid is in the same boat. We have no idea why this teacher is assigning gobs of work. It is absolutely insane. My son is also spending hours on it. The sad part is the work is only for completion. The teacher doesn’t teach - just assigns reading (they read it outloud in class old school round robin style) and then they are given these ridiculous assignments that keep them busy the rest of the period. They cannot ever possibly be finished with them.[/quote]

[b]The teacher is teaching the kids how to study.[/b]

If your kid doesn't want to study and learn, then just scribble through the work and don't waste time making it correct. [/quote]

I don’t agree that simply reading a text outloud in class and assigning work after that is teaching my child “how to study.” If there was a lecture or discussion, where my child had to take take notes, and then study said notes, that might be “teaching him how to study.” But assigning copious amounts of busy work with zero discussion is not it.[/quote]

Is it possible that your kid is not relaying accurate information about what they are doing in class?[/quote]

No. He is a straight A student and extremely truthful.[/quote]

Also, I can see they don’t have any notes taken from lectures.[/quote]

[b]I guess your kid is lazy,[/b] or notes aren't important.

My kid learned the incredibly complex skill of note taking in middle school [/quote]

Not at all, more like the teacher is lazy. Having kids read outloud the text during class time to kill time and then simply assigning independent work with no discussion? That’s the definition of lazy teaching. [/quote]

Challenge for you. Call the school and ask to observe the teacher’s class.

I’m willing to bet the story your child brings home doesn’t match what is really occurring in class.

From my 20 years of experience teaching advanced courses in high school, I’m comfortable saying there aren’t many lazy AP teachers left. The 60 (or more) hours a week it takes to teach an advanced course is enough to scare the lazy teachers away. Those of us who remain are the work horses who unhealthily put our jobs over our own families and our own health.  [/quote]

You’re confusing me with OP. I’m talking about a freshman honors history class, not an AP class.[/quote]

I still recommend observing the class. What students report is rarely what is actually occurring. I’ve witnessed that with my own children. [/quote]

I forgot to add that the teacher posts a recap online anyway. This is one of those teachers that have been at it for 30 years and is not creative or engaging. It’s literally read outloud and then complete written activities independently. Oh and here’s a study guide with a bazillion terms - learn it on your own. Some of them aren’t even in the chapter.[/quote]

What’s the problem? If you know that’s the teacher’s style, then you learn to work with it. I had tons of teachers in high school and professors in college who operated this way. I recognized the style and studied accordingly. I didn’t complain about it.

If you choose to complain, then choose to do something about it. I recommend becoming a teacher yourself since you have all the answers. (But then you’ll realize it’s a lot harder than you think…)[/quote]

I was a teacher for FCPS, you dolt. I have a Masters from UVA.[/quote]

Which means I can recognize bad teaching. There should absolutely be discussions in history. Note taking. Group activities. Not just read out loud the chapter and assign independent work. That’s the laziest form of teaching history.[/quote]

Since you’re a former teacher, then I’m sure you’re aware that students often perceive things in a way that doesn’t quite reflect reality. Perhaps you shouldn’t take a student’s perception as fact.

Since you’re a former teacher, then I’m sure you’re aware that students need to acclimate to any number of different teaching styles. You mentioned he reads aloud. I assume your child is taking notes as he does? [b]Why haven’t you helped your child figure out how to adapt to his teaching style? [/b]Wouldn’t that make more sense than complaining about it?

And since you are clearly a much better teacher than he is, why aren’t you in the classroom anymore? (And yay for UVA? Not sure why that matters at all…) [/quote]

I have. I will continue to complain about it on an anonymous message board though. Not sure why that bothers you.[/quote]

It doesn’t really bother me. I just don’t see the point of complaining, especially if (as you claim) you are already taking steps to deal with the problem. That’s all you can do, unless you want to step back in the classroom again and do it your way.[/quote]

Somebody early on in this thread started the complaint about freshman honors and I was piggybacking on it. If it doesn’t apply to you, don’t worry about it.[/quote]

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