Clinical Reference Systems: Pediatric Advisor 10.0
Spanish version
Schoolwork Responsibility: How to Instill It
DESCRIPTION
Taking responsibility for schoolwork helps children grow up
to be responsible adults who keep their promises, meet
deadlines, and succeed at their jobs. Responsible children
finish schoolwork, homework, and long-term projects on time.
They remember their assignments and turn in papers. They
occasionally ask for help (for example, with a spelling
list) but usually like to think through their work by
themselves.
HOW TO ENCOURAGE SCHOOLWORK RESPONSIBILITY
The following suggestions should help you cultivate the
trait of responsibility in your child and avoid problems
with schoolwork that may be difficult to correct later on.
- Encourage learning and responsibility in the preschool
years.
Listen attentively to your child's conversation.
Encourage him to think for himself. Take your child to
the library and read to him regularly. Watch
educational programs together and talk about them. Be a
role model of someone who reads, finds learning
exciting, enjoys problem-solving, and likes to try new
things. Ask your preschool child to help you with
chores (for example, clearing the table or putting away
clean clothes).
- Show your child you are interested in his school
performance.
Ask your child about his school day. Look at and
comment positively on the graded papers your child
brings home. Praise your child's strong points on his
report card. Show interest in the books your child is
reading. Help your child attend school regularly; don't
keep him home for minor illnesses. Go to regular
parent-teacher conferences and tell your child about
them. If you feel discouraged, rather than conveying
this to your child, schedule an extra conference with
his teacher.
- Support the school staff's recommendations.
Show respect for both the school system and the teacher,
at least in your child's presence. Verbal attacks on
the school may pit your child against the school and
give him an excuse for not working. Even when you
disagree with a school's policy, you should encourage
your child to conform to school rules, just as they will
need to conform to the broader rules of society.
- Make it clear that schoolwork is between your child and
the teacher.
When your child begins school she should understand that
homework, schoolwork, and grades are strictly between
her and her teacher. The teacher should set the goals
for better school performance, not the parents. Your
child must feel responsible for successes and failures
in school. People take more pride in accomplishments if
they feel fully responsible for them. Parents who feel
responsible for their child's school performance open
the door for the child to turn his responsibilities over
to them.
Occasionally, elementary-school teachers may ask you to
review basic facts with your child or see that your
child completes work that was put off at school. When
your child's teacher makes such requests, it's fine for
you to help, but only as a temporary measure.
- Stay out of homework.
Asking if your child has homework, helping nightly,
checking the finished homework, or drilling your child
in areas of concern all convey to your child that you
don't trust him. If you do your child's homework, your
child will have less confidence that he can do it
himself. If your child asks for help with homework,
help with the particular problem only. Your help should
focus on explaining the question, not on giving the
answer. A good example of useful help is reading your
child's spelling list to him while he writes the words,
but then letting him check his own answers. A chief
purpose of homework is to teach your child to work on
his own.
- Avoid dictating a study time.
Assigning a set time for your child to do homework is
unnecessary and looked upon as pressure. The main thing
parents can do is provide a quiet setting with a desk, a
comfortable chair, and good lighting. If any, the only
rule should be "No television until homework is done."
Accept your child's word that the work is done without
checking. For long-term assignments, help your child
organize his work the first few times if he seems
overwhelmed. Help him estimate how many hours he thinks
the project will take. Then help him write up a list of
the days at home he will work on the project.
- Provide home tutoring for special circumstances.
Occasionally, a teacher will ask for help from the
parents when a child has lots of make-up work after a
long absence or transfer to a new school. If your
child's teacher makes such a request, ask the teacher to
send home notes about what he or she wants you to help
your child with (for instance, multiplication for
2 weeks). By using this approach you are still not
taking primary responsibility for your child's
schoolwork because the assignments and request for help
come from the teacher.
Provide this home instruction in a positive, helping
way. As soon as your child has met the teacher's goal
for improvement, remove yourself from the role of tutor.
In this way you have provided temporary tutoring to help
your child over an obstacle that the school staff does
not have time or resources to deal with fully.
- Request special help for children with learning
problems.
Some children have learning problems that interfere with
acquiring some of the basic skills (for example,
reading). In this discussion we have assumed that your
child has no learning limitations. If a child with a
reading disability slips too far behind in class, the
child may lose confidence in his ability to do
schoolwork. If you have concerns about your child's
ability to learn, set up a conference with your child's
teacher. At that time, inquire about an evaluation by
your school's special education team. With extra help,
children with learning disabilities can preserve their
self-esteem and sense of competency.
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