Homework - diploma in poster design?!

[drummer]

Ds has just started Y9 at BGS. I swear that at least every other piece of homework, if not much more, since Y7 and into this year already is to design a $%^^&* poster!

Then should have graphic design as a subject so they could at least do a decent job of it! Honestly it is ridiculous. In over 2 years I can only think of one challenging piece of homework which was the write up for a Geography field trip.

Is everywhere like this?

[WorriedRuby]

Hello,

My son has started Y7 (one week) and he has done couple of posters. At this speed I am sure by Year9 there will be lots of posters.

[dyslexichelpneeded]

Posters true of DDs school through Year 7. Plus every homework for DT was a 'mood board'. Homework since has been highly variable, including the far-too-difficult. DS, however - barely a poster to be seen, DT homework all well-constructed, and most homework, in general, at a suitable level. Seems to vary hugely with the school.

[hermanmunster]

including the far-too-difficult. .

oh yes I remember a somewhat stressed (I presume - though it could have just been bad tempered) teacher sending year 8s home with a request to write out the equations for the physical and chemical reactions taking place in the space shuttle engines.

[Amber]

All part of the push to make schoolwork 'relevant' to 'young people', I'm afraid.

Not always does the setter of the homework ask whether a poster would be the best way to communicate the required message - best one I saw was 'design a poster about the ways in which you would go about writing a play script based on pressure to try smoking'. Er, what?

oh yes I remember a somewhat stressed (I presume - though it could have just been bad tempered) teacher sending year 8s home with a request to write out the equations for the physical and chemical reactions taking place in the space shuttle engines.

Hmm, maybe that was a teacher with a sarcastic sense of humour a bit fed up with some smart arses in his class?

Edit: ooh, I was allowed to write that without editing. Biggest excitement of the day.

[hermanmunster]

All part of the push to make schoolwork 'relevant' to 'young people', I'm afraid.

Not always does the setter of the homework ask whether a poster would be the best way to communicate the required message - best one I saw was 'design a poster about the ways in which you would go about writing a play script based on pressure to try smoking'. Er, what?

oh yes I remember a somewhat stressed (I presume - though it could have just been bad tempered) teacher sending year 8s home with a request to write out the equations for the physical and chemical reactions taking place in the space shuttle engines.

Hmm, maybe that was a teacher with a sarcastic sense of humour a bit fed up with some smart arses in his class?

Edit: ooh, I was allowed to write that without editing. Biggest excitement of the day.

think you are probably right - I twigged that actually what was wanted was an understanding of the conservation of matter.... something dear to my heart as another patient says ..."but doctor, I never eat anything"
sorry really rather OT

[drummer]

my other son's homework (upper school) was to make a collage of pictures of house plants with some information about the moisture/humidity requirements of each

WHAT?!

Does the teacher think we all have a mountain of interior design or some kind of magazines that have these pictures in just hanging around? Or are we supposed to print stuff off the internet - if so is she paying for the printer ink? Where is the information about the plants to come from?

$%^^&* lazy teaching if you ask me.

[Amber]

my other son's homework (upper school) was to make a collage of pictures of house plants with some information about the moisture/humidity requirements of each

WHAT?!

Does the teacher think we all have a mountain of interior design or some kind of magazines that have these pictures in just hanging around? Or are we supposed to print stuff off the internet - if so is she paying for the printer ink? Where is the information about the plants to come from?

$%^^&* lazy teaching if you ask me.

Send it on on a memory stick for printing at school. That is what I do regularly now, because with 3 of them you get through a bucketload of ink. Just get them to cite broken printers/ink cartridge run out, if there is any resistance (shouldn't be).

Not sure how old your son is but yes, this is dodgy teaching for anyone over about 7 - why on earth would he want to make a collage? Bizarre.

[hermanmunster]

oh yes PRINTER INK!!!! This got ridiculous !

Herman the meany started routing kids compueters via my rather boring (but much cheaper to run) black and white laser printer.... occasional things can be done in colour, but only if really needed.

[mike1880]

Last week for English (lit) we had "research class divisions in England since 1900" - set Monday to be done by Thursday so where on earth he was supposed to find that out Lord only knows (you try that in Google). And goodness knows why that's English lit.

Last year's (Y7) English was superb, if tough (started with writing a police report based on an incident in the set book, progressed by spring term to a 100-page project set over 7+ weeks, summer term included a 2-3 weeks stint of poetry that involved writing poems in various styles (limerick, Shakespearian sonnet, Chaucerian-style character portrait, etc.). Y8 will have to work hard to match it.

[edit - whoops, no, I think it was 30-page project - sounds more reasonable workload , doesn't it? Or at least it would have been if he'd started it before the final weekend ]

Only a couple of posters in Y7 iirc - one in history (recruitment poster for Roman army), one or two others Ibut I can't remember what subjects. Deffo nothing in English tho'!

Mike