HOMEWORK CHART
WEEK BEGINNING _____ WEEK ENDING _____
MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY
MATH
SCIENCE
SOCIAL STUDIES
ENGLISH
OTHER
WEEK BEGINNING _____ WEEK ENDING _____
MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY
MATH
SCIENCE
SOCIAL STUDIES
ENGLISH
OTHER
Parent Signature _____ Teacher Signature _____
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5. TV Viewing Limits. The beginning of the school year is a good time to develop positive habits in regard to television. While TV has made us more informed, it has also caused a great number of problems. Many children and parents waste dozens of hours each week watching programs that are not really of high quality. In this activity two points will be stressed (1) TV viewing is not “bad” but critical choices of what to watch should be made and (2) too much TV is not a good thing.
It is difficult to imagine what children did before television. Today the TV is used as a “baby-sitter” and most children by the age of three are regular consumers. Parents must be willing to spend time with children in other activities and in the selection of quality programs. Studies have shown that there is real educational benefit if parents watch TV with their children and discuss what is being shown—a great deal can be learned from watching the news and/or other educational TV. “The average high school student will have spent approximately 20,000 hours in front of the television set by the time he or she graduates from high school, compared with about 15,000 hours in the classroom.”
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What can be done? TV cannot be eliminated, but limits must be set both in time and choice of programming. For the purpose of this unit, a school week chart is to be completed. During this selected week (any of the weeks within the four week unit period) two things are required. First, parents will help children to be critical viewers by helping to select programs, watching TV with the child, and discussing what has been presented. An evaluation of the program should be given by both parent and child. Was the subject portrayed accurately? What commercials were shown? “It is interesting that youngsters, on the average, will see 11,000 murders on TV before they’re 14 years old.”
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Also, “Living with television means growing up in a world of about 22,000 commercials a year, 5,000 of them for food products, more than half of which are for low-nutrition sweets and snacks.”
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Having discussed critically the choice of program, the second part of this activity concerns time spent watching TV. The following may seem unrealistic but is a goal toward which the child and parent should strive. “If a child watches one hour of TV, and equal amount of time should be spent on reading. Also allow time for homework and outside play. This will make for a well-rounded schedule.”
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The chart which follows should be duplicated and distributed at the parent-student meeting. It requires that students do in fact read for an amount of time equal to the amount of time that they watch TV. Time spent doing homework is not the same as time spent reading. An example should be done to illustrate to parents and students what it required. If for example a student watches 1 hour of TV, he or she is required to do outside reading in the amount of 1 hour. Homework might be an additional 18 hours. Outside play may be 2 hours. An additional hour might have been spent playing a board game. This is a well rounded schedule and is to be encouraged. The chart while only being kept for a week is an example of a healthy approach to learning.
* Distribute handout #4 which follows.
