Scott, et al,
I have a couple of questions and a comment in response to this last posting:
1. How much writing do you currently assign to your 112 students?
2. How long does it take to return the graded pieces to the students after they are handed in?
3. What percentage of students are non-compliant with assignments?
4. If the students are only writing three "essays" a year, what other writing are they submitting? Do they write any reading journals, creative pieces, timed pieces, etc.?
5. What is the logic behind this department policy?
I teach in a Connecticut high school, and things are quite different here. We assign much more writing/homework than your Arizona experience. In my school, the average teacher/student ratio in English classes is probably about 1:90 (give or take a few -- BTW: This number is still higher than is recommended by some experts); of course, for me, it is lower being that I am a theatre teacher as well (this year, I have 40 English students -- honors sophomores -- but then, I only have two English classes). In our school, English teachers have four classes a day (45 minute blocks) and one conference period in which we are required to hold 1-on-1 conferences with our students. Even with these smaller numbers, everyone in my department spends LOTS of hours reading and commenting (yes, and grading) student writing, and scrambling to get papers back to students before they grow cobwebs (the papers, not the students). How does one provide meaningful feedback
to 120 or more writing pieces in any timely fashion, unless there are fewer pieces per year (as your Arizona experience suggests)? And of course, the less students write, they less they grow as writers!
The schedule at my school, by the way, is NOT typical in my state, but our students do quite well (state testing, SATs, college acceptances, etc.), and our school is highly rated nationally. Others in Connecticut probably have slightly higher ratios, but from what I can see, smaller numbers seem to produce better results. I remember when I taught in a lower achieving school where teachers typically had five classes with about 30 students in each, the situation was much weaker. We all assigned MUCH less writing. The students did less work, not only because of the more infrequent assignments, but because there were large numbers of students who just didn't do their assignments! I think this situation was probably also a result of class size.
If my memory is correct, Ted Sizer and Alfie Kohn have both written about this issue. Also, I believe that NCTE advocates for lower teacher-student ratios. I can't remember the specific research that I've read since it was quite some time ago, but if I find it, I'll pass it along.
Paul E. Doniger
________________________________
From: Scott Woods <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Sunday, May 31, 2009 10:45:13 AM
Subject: Re: Class size ATEG Digest - 28 May 2009 to 29 May 2009 - Special issue (#2009-127)
Edmond,
Most teachers do not assign very much homework, especially writing. When I taught at a public high school in Arizona, three years ago, my students wrote three essays each year. Most of the work was done in class. This was department policy. Another teacher I know assigned an essay every three weeks. He was reprimanded for doing so. His contract was not renewed. At the public high school closest to my charter school, 9th graders in the International Baccalaureate program write one essay per term, three per year, according to my informants.
Scott Woods
BASIS Scottsdale
--- On Sat, 5/30/09, Edmond Wright <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Do American high school English teachers have to load their car boots at the
end of the afternoon with three or four piles of 30+ homework books? (It is
normal for two sets of homework to be set for each class in one week, and
one is likely to be teaching seven or eight classes).
Edmond
Dr. Edmond Wright
3 Boathouse Court
Trafalgar Road
Cambridge
CB4 1DU
England
Email: [log in to unmask]
Website: http://people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/elw33/
Phone [00 44] (0)1223 350256
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