Recently, we were advertising for a job opening at the school. The week after the competition closed, a young woman arrived at my office with her resume. I explained to her that the application was too late for the current position (we had filled it that morning), but that I would keep her package on file should something else arise in the future. She was flabbergasted. "How could it be closed?", she demanded, "the deadline was only last Friday!"

When I was growing up, the fear of missing a “deadline” was all consuming. There were deadlines for assignments, deadlines for applications, deadlines for tax returns; you name it, and there was a deadline. Miss that key date and you were dead in the water! 

But, to be honest, in the second decade of the twenty-first century, we have become a society of “fudgers”. Everything seems to be up for negotiation. Payment deadlines get routinely missed, airline check- in times are ignored, movies buffer their published start time with a raft of previews and ads; and even the concept of “last call” at the pub seems to have blurred. We are more than willing to pay a little extra, argue a little harder, or lie and obfuscate a little bit more if it means that we don’t have to be held to a hard and fast rule (that, of course, should apply to everyone else!) We live in a society that feels that it always has the right to renegotiate. Even the so-called "fiscal cliff" that kept me awake over the holidays turned out to be something that actually could be pushed back a few months without serious consequences. 

Is it any wonder that our kids sometimes take the same attitude towards their bedtimes, their computer use, or their homework? At Kenneth Gordon, we work with many students who have challenges with their "executive function" (that is the ability to organize and execute a specific task in a time-effective way). We help them to develop organizational strategies and external, intermediate "deadlines" to pace themselves and to create short-term, attainable goals. It is hard work for them to rewire themselves to think in this fashion especially when all of the empirical evidence from the outside world would seem to indicate to them that it is not that important!  
So, the question is, do deadlines really matter? Are we simply more enlightened about things than a generation ago, or have we slowly begun to miss the point? 

In his book, “Predictably Irrational” MIT Prof. Dan Ariely tried an experiment with three classes of undergraduates taking the same course. In Class A he announced three assignments with due dates of: October 15th, November 15th, and December 15th with penalties for lateness. 

In Class B, he announced the same three assignments and stated that they could be submitted anytime on or before December 15th. And, in Class C he gave the students a choice, they could opt for the same ground rules as Class A or the same open ended approach as Class B. Class C, split pretty much down the middle. 

At the end of the term he had his TAs mark the papers (he was a university prof after all!) and found that the class with the deadlines — who were forced to be organized and systematic - scored the highest, the class with no deadlines (who could procrastinate and then rush at the end) scored the worst, and that the other class split the same way depending upon what option they chose.

So what does this mean for us and our kids? The research is clear, deadlines and clear, well-defined goals do work (just ask anyone who has to report weekly to weight watchers!) Secondly, it is our responsibility as parents and educators not to just ensure that our children meet deadlines but that they learn how to effectively set, and follow them as well. There will come a time when there won’t be a teacher or parent setting and enforcing the rules, and our students have to be prepared and supported, by us, to master that skill for themselves.

It is time that we adults began to model the attitudes and behaviours that we expect from our children. So hurry up and take care of this, you are on a deadline! 

Don’t be confused, this is not a quote from one of your children. This is a quote from you and me and every other parent who has had to hover over their daughter or son sitting motionlessly at a recently cleared kitchen or dining room table with pencil poised over a blank page.

For most of us, who endured years of our own homework purgatory, there is a cruel irony about listening to our parents’ voices come out of our own “enlightened” mouths as we encourage, cajole and threaten the next generation about the consequences of unrequited homework expectations.
One of the issues that haunts children who struggle with a learning difference is the volume and frequency of homework. It has come to be conventional wisdom that the watershed of learning is a child's ability to complete any and all assigned tasks sent home by their school. Parents will often wade into the process; researching, scribing, editing, even completing their child's homework rather than have them face the imagined wrath of their teacher if they arrive at school in the morning with a blank or half-completed page. There are even educators and schools that claim to have "high standards" based upon the height of the mountain of homework that they pile on each evening. The successful completion of this work, relevant or not, is seen as a clear indicator of future academic success!

Having said all of that, the traditional approach to homework is not the sacrosanct institution that we sometimes believe. There is considerable research evidence to indicate that years of school-assigned homework may not have had the impact on the teaching and learning process that we once thought.

For example, a recent study  in the United States found the following discouraging statistics:  65% of homework assigned is unnecessary and marginal (at best) to student learning; 45% of all homework is never referred to again in class; 75% of overnight work is not marked, shared or evaluated in any way to ensure accurate completion or to address concerns; 80% of “taken up” overnight homework is peer reviewed to ensure completion or accuracy but there is not meaningful analysis to aid in student understanding; 35% of all submitted homework is never marked or returned; and, 67% of of what is returned is not done so in a timely fashion.

Are you depressed yet?

Given these stark statistics, should homework simply be scrapped? The answer, obviously, is “no”, but what is clearly necessary is a rethinking of how we use homework to enhance learning, the extent to which the homework that is assigned reflects the academic priorities and philosophy of the school, and, the establishment of a truly collaborative approach to the assigning and completion of homework that involves on-going discussions both among educators, and between home and school.

According to the research, homework definitely has a role in a number of specific instances: when reinforcement of a newly  learned concept is clearly necessary; when time (as in “there isn’t enough in the school day!”) is a factor; and, when you want to actively engage parents in the learning process.  So, what can schools do to ensure that students and their parents appreciate the value of doing work beyond the end of the school day? To begin with schools have to ask themselves so hard questions: Is what we are assigning essential? Is it better done at home than at school? Is it effectively integrated into our programme plan for the next day? Clearly, some things simply must be done at home in the evening or on the weekends: completing work not finished in school; review and revision of written work; test preparation; assigned reading; project work; research that is beyond the resources of the school; in short, almost anything that can’t be accomplished within the constraints of a regular school day. At Kenneth Gordon, we try to minimize the amount of homework and keep it only to essentials. Our students work hard enough during the day without piling in on in the evening as well.  Our goals are: to monitor the type of tasks that we assign for students to do; to prune the unessential, prioritize the rest; and, to maintain collaborative discussions among staff to guard against inconsistencies and overloading.

What are we asking of you in our drive for more effective homework?  Be involved. Sit at the same table as your child and do some of your own "homework". Read with them and take the time to ask them about what they are doing and why they are doing it. Please try to remember to monitor your children’s assigned work and look to see not just “how much” but also “how valuable”; and, let us know if you think that it is out of whack. And finally, if it becomes too angst-ridden a process, tell them to put it away and let it go.

One request from every educator and every school is to try not to negotiate away your child’s responsibilities for homework with a late night email to the teacher. We are a flexible  bunch, but let your child take ownership of the situation. We will work it out with them.

In the final analysis, we are all working in concert to manage the learning process at school and at home in a way that is meaningful and respectful to the needs of each and every child. Homework should always be a bridge between home and school and never a battleground!

I spent the past Saturday at school. While it is not unusual for me to drop in on the weekend, this was a little different. From 6:30 a.m. until 8 at night, a film crew from Telus Communications was using KGMS as a backdrop for an upcoming commercial. Focusing on our school, the 30 second spot (which took twelve hours to make!) highlights how the effective use of technology can support the learning process. Telus has been a strong supporter of our school and this was an opportunity for both partners to celebrate the collaboration that has benefited our students. Having said that, during the hours of watching the crews at work and the excited participation of one of our students and one of our staff members, it gave me plenty of time to reflect on the role of technology in enhancing the learning experience for our kids.

There is an underlying assumption in modern schools of all stripes that “more is better” when it comes to laptops, SMART Boards, and various other digital supports. But, does the addition of these kinds of resources guarantee a better educational experience? The answer is, “not necessarily.” As one of our teachers has said: “it’s not about technology, it’s about learning.” This should be the mantra of every classroom in every school. There is no point in investing in SMART Boards or interactive digital short-throw projectors if they are only going to be used as 21st century blackboards and overheads.  That is not good enough. What needs to be happening has to begin with our academic vision of the school.
We have to ask the questions: “How can we enhance student learning and academic performance with the aid of technology?”; “What could we do more effectively with technological support than we could do without it?” and, “How do we make students and teachers see the available technology not as a gimmick, but rather as a stepping-stone to take learning to the next level?”

Interestingly enough our teaching staff spent part of last Friday’s professional development day discussing exactly this issue and looking for new and innovative ways to use our available technology to engage our students, and continue to unlock the barriers to learning. We are blessed at KGMS with excellent access to both interactive digital boards and student laptops through our shared mobile computer labs. With more than one computer for every two students, we can basically ensure that anyone who needs that kind of resource support can get it at almost any time of the day.

But, the point of all this innovation is not to simply “decorate” the school with technology but to continue to use it to make us a better school. Many schools pride themselves on having a smart board in every room, or requiring every family to buy their child a laptop. The might make for great marketing, but ineffective use of those resources – while good visual p.r. when prospective parents or visitors glance in the class – can impede rather than enhance the learning process. There is no practical reason for stretching limited technological resources or requiring families to lay out money simply to ensure that every teacher in every class has her or his students sitting at a keyboard. What makes more sense is to focus our resources where they will have the greatest impact. In the best schools, like ours, students excel in the use of technology because teachers who “get it” are given the support and the infrastructure they need to push forward the frontiers of learning. It would appear to be far more effective to guarantee that every student has at least one exceptional on-going experience with technology in her or his learning day rather that to try to provide a series of mediocre ones. Teaching and learning is the ultimate interactive experience. Whether or not it involves the use of technology is far less important than the extent to which it engages, challenges, and meets the needs of our kids. 


That is why, as much as we have invested in technology in our classrooms, our real priority is to continue to staff them with “state of the art” teachers. They’re the real “smart” in smart boards!

The day after Labour Day was an exciting day around our school.  The doors flew open and in surged a sea of faces: some excited, others anxious; some frowning, others with wide, sunny grins; some timid, others bold; some determined, and others reticent – and those were just the parents!  Our students came tumbling in the same way – there were the cautious steps of the newly arrived; the relaxed swagger of the old pros; and, everything in between.

No matter how they stepped through the door however, two hours later, I think that both  our students and their parents made their way home feeling good about their days and their choices.

Kenneth Gordon is a school of second choice. To be honest, there are probably no parents or children who enter the school system with a burning desire to attend KGMS. Some other school had the privilege of being their first choice.

First choice schools are picked for a number of reasons: they are close to home; or they have status or a larger than life reputation in the community; or they are where Mom or Dad or Grandma or Grandpa went to school. Whatever the reason, we parents often select the first choice school for our child with less thought and research than we give to buying a new car!

Students arrive at Kenneth Gordon because those first choices didn’t work. This time, parents have done their homework. They have listened to learning specialists; they have researched their options; and they have made an informed choice that they believe will be a good fit for their child. That is the way that every enrollment decision should be made and that is why, at KGMS, we are proud to be a school of second choice.

Many of the students that I have worked with over the years have come to me with the same story. They tell me how they just can’t learn. They say that no matter what their teachers taught them, they couldn’t master it. What did that say about them as a learner, or as a person? When I get those kinds of questions, I always think of a quote by the American educational critic Neil Postman who wrote in one of his books: Building a Bridge to the 18th Century that hearing a teacher say to a student, “I taught you that concept, you just didn’t learn it” is as absurd as hearing a car salesperson say to a customer “I sold you that car, you just didn’t buy it!”

Clearly if a customer doesn’t buy the car, than the technique of the salesperson wasn’t up to the task of selling to that particular customer, in other words, they didn’t “sell” it – it is hardly the buyer’s fault if she or he didn’t buy. The same holds true for teachers and students. If the strategies employed by the teacher, fail to meet the needs of the learner, than it is the teacher that needs to go back to the drawing board, not the student. If a student doesn’t learn it, then you didn’t teach it!

As long as first choice schools continue to struggle to meet those needs, there will be an important place for second choice schools like Kenneth Gordon. But, if in some ways we are like no other schools, in others, we are exactly the same!

On Tuesday, when those floodgates opened and that sea of shining faces streamed in, the energy level was palpable and the excitement – electric!

Staff members and students alike were genuinely thrilled to see one another after two long months apart.

It’s a funny thing, as much as I love summer, each fall when I experience first hand the joy of learning once again, I remember that I love September even more!