50. Back to School Series: Hot Button Topics

Ellie 0:00

There are so many hot topics in education today. Maybe there always have been. Today we're going to hit just a few and share some of our arguments about each one. Welcome to The Teaching Toolbox Podcast. I'm Ellie, and here with my friend Brittany.

Brittany 0:16

Hi,

Ellie 0:17

Let's jump in.

Brittany 0:18

Let's start with a longtime favorite: homework. Homework has long been a hot topic in middle school education and education in general, because of its significant impact on students, teachers, and parents. One of the main reasons this is a hot topic is because of the debate over its effectiveness in reinforcing learning. So Ellie, What's your stance? I

Ellie 0:46

I would say that I'm a little more pro homework, because homework helps students practice and internalize concepts learned in class, if the concepts are taught well, and we know that students understand the concepts before they walk out of the classroom. I think it also helps to foster self discipline like you know, you have to do this, you know you have to get it done, you have to make yourself do it. Unless you're a homework lover, and you know, then it might not be discipline, but and it can also help students develop time management skills, especially if as the teacher you help them learn time management skills, because you don't necessarily want to - here's all this homework and assume that they are being taught time management skills at home, maybe it's not happening so if you help to develop that for them, I think it can be like a one nice big package of homework, time management, all of that.

Ellie 1:40

If students don't understand the math concept before they leave for class, then homework for that concept might be pointless. So I can see the side that says we'll what's the point of giving it if they don't get the concept. So I can see that, especially if they don't have support at home to try to figure things out. But in that case, you could give review homework, even if it's two or three problems, just so that they are developing some of those other skills of the self discipline, the time management, and if it's review, and it's something they've done before they can try to tackle that on their own and not necessarily have to have somebody else to help them with it. Especially if you're not grading the homework. You know, there are times that I give homework and just try it shows me that there is an attempt, show me that you did something to think about it, you wrote down some thoughts that you have, I don't think there's anything wrong with expecting a student to write down what they thought about or what they tried to figure out.

Ellie 2:36

And then there are also assignments, like reading or writing, that don't require the same understanding as math concepts in order to complete the assignment and these are skills that most students could use some more practice with, like read three pages of a book, write down what you did that day, it can be something that at least again, fosters that self discipline, sense of responsibility, sense of time management. So yeah, I guess I would say that I am pretty pro homework. I do have two blog posts about homework and different types of homework, how to use homework effectively, that will link in the show notes. So what are your thoughts?

Brittany 3:14

I used to be extremely pro homework - that's kind of lessened over time. So I am very pro homework for grades one through six, as long as they understand the concept before they leave the room. Because otherwise they're practicing something wrong. But I am not that in favor of homework for grades seven through 12. Because I think that kids have enough responsibilities in terms of sports, jobs, babysitting, maybe taking care of the house, etc. So many don't have the support that they need at home either to help with their science homework or their math homework or their history homework. I think ELA is you're right. It's something different, you know, reading a book, or writing some words down in terms of what they did or how they felt about something. But I think it becomes difficult to ask an eighth grader to do quadratic formula problems with a parent who possibly can't barely even multiply. My kids were very fortunate to have a very smart father because I could not have helped them with 10th through 12th grade math. There were many times I felt sorry for the other kids who didn't have that advantage. I would often say when they had spent like three hours on math homework. What do the other kids do? Like how are the other kids getting this done?

Ellie 4:50

I feel like that's where the purpose of that homework could be perseverance. One problem to do, like if it's a math thing like that, like here's one problem to do. Spent 10 minutes trying to figure it out 15 minutes like, here's a time limit. Only spend this much time. Write down everything that you thought about and try it and did, develop a little bit of that perseverance, but not take up huge chunks of time.

Brittany 5:15

Yeah, but that's not how it was being used in our schools.

Ellie 5:19

No - for sure, for sure.

Brittany 5:21

I do think we need classes in middle and high school that go over life skills such as prioritization, time management, you know, those kinds of skills, but that's a hot button topic for another day. Educators are continuously looking for ways to create more equitable homework practices like providing after school tutoring programs, assigning differentiated tasks that consider individual student needs and circumstances with varying opinions and research findings. The discussion about homework remains a dynamic and crucial conversation in middle school education.

Ellie 6:02

And maybe we'll need to revisit it.

Brittany 6:03

Yes.

Ellie 6:04

Let us know.

Brittany 6:05

I think it's going to change over time with AI and stuff as well.

Ellie 6:09

True. All right. Another hot topic is school uniforms. I feel like this was a debate when I was in school. And when we would have our students write persuasive essays in language arts and such school uniforms was almost always one of the topics that students chose. Now, I never had to deal with uniforms personally, either for myself or for my children. So I don't have very strong feelings about this either way. But I can say that as a parent, I feel like back to school clothes shopping might have been much easier if we had had school uniforms. How about you?

Brittany 6:43

I never had to wear uniforms myself. But as a parent, and a teacher, I love uniforms. Uniforms makes clothes shopping way easier. They make morning clothes decisions way easier. They make it simple to tell who should be on campus and who shouldn't, so they make security easier. And it made it really easy for discipline issues in terms of tucked in shirts or belts. My kids both had to wear uniforms from preschool up until sixth grade for my daughter, and up until senior year for my son. And then they both transferred to different schools where they got to wear their own choices. Although they hated uniforms as a parent and a teacher, I just loved it.

Ellie 7:36

Interesting. Yeah, I've never had that experience. Ultimately, the decision to enforce school uniforms should consider the unique needs and values of the school community. Aiming to foster an environment where all students can thrive academically and socially.

Brittany 7:52

This next hot button topic is a bit more fun. But if you have specific color preferences, this one can really get people going. Before we talk about our opinions here, let's touch on how using color can be helpful. Organizing materials by color can be a highly effective strategy for middle school students to manage their subjects and stay on top of their assignments.

Ellie 8:17

By associating each subject with a specific color, students can quickly identify their notebooks, folders, textbooks, reducing the time spent searching for materials. For example, math can be represented by blue, science by green english by red, and social studies by yellow. This visual organization system not only helps in maintaining neatness, but also helps in cognitive association making it easier for students to switch gears between subjects. Implementing a method like this encourages organizational skills and fosters a sense of responsibility, which are essential for academic success.

Brittany 8:56

But the hot topic here is which color goes with which subject? Are you a math is blue person like Ellie is? And social studies is red. Or do you not care?

Ellie 9:11

Actually, I'm on the I don't really care. I care about having the same color for a subject like a blue folder, a blue binder, a blue notebook, all for a same subject. But I honestly don't care so much about which subject is which color. Do you care?

Brittany 9:29

I am definitely on the side that cares. We would have arguments every spring as we decided the colors for the next fall.

Ellie 9:38

Wait so your whole team like everybody did the same colors on your whole team?

Brittany 9:42

Yes.

Ellie 9:43

Okay, we didn't do that. Okay.

Brittany 9:45

And fifth grade and fourth grade also. We would all sit together and argue about it for like an hour until we developed a system that just made sense. Green is science because - - - she just did air quotes.

Ellie: 10:04

air quote makes sense. Sorry.

Brittany: 10:09

Green is science because life is green trees, grass, algae, organisms, green. Makes sense, right? History was blue because exploration was across oceans and water is blue. Makes sense? Red was math because math is red period. She doesn't like that one. And then ELA was yellow because it was the last dominant color. So it just had to be yellow.

Ellie: 10:38

So ELA got left out of the real choices.

Brittany: 10:43

And then we did teach character ed. So it usually got purple if we could find purple folders, or sometimes we gave it orange if we had to settle. I did poll my sixth grade group a while back and we'll link that in the show notes as well. And many, many people totally agreed with me.

Ellie: 11:05

I'm gonna have to poll some people and see how many people think math should be red.

Brittany: 11:11

Many, many being 13.

Ellie: 11:15

I don't know. I just can't think that much about it. Because I can argue against every one like green, because life is green. I'm not green, and I'm like I'm life. My dog is not green. So, but I won't I won't argue too much. So those are our hot topics for today. We hope you enjoyed our arguments, our facts, and our fun.

Brittany: 11:38

If you have other hot topics you want to hear about, send them to us using the contact us page on our website or reach out to us on IG or Facebook. We'll talk to you soon.

Ellie: 11:49

Bye