Do you think it helps students if they are given projects or extra homework if they have a longer weekend? For example, if you are given a book report or big packet to finish during winter break.
I don't think it will help students much if they are given extra work to do over breaks. I think "winter break" should be an actual break from school. To be honest most people I know don't even do homework if it is given to then around this time.
Personally, if I don't finish the work by Christmas I refuse to do it until I get back in school. I always have time before classes to finish up any work I have left.
If I can answer a few questions every day to remember what I learned then I would do it.

Considering the fact that I am an 8th grader and I'm about to have Christmas break, I'm going to say not at all . When I get homework over break, I'm sure you can guess what happens... I don't do a single part of it and then get in trouble for coming back without it done. I think teachers should be able to give homework as extra credit for the students who want to do it, but for the students who have better things to do like procrastinate or sleep, I don't think it's fair to make them do homework on a time where they are supposed to take a BREAK from school. The only students who do homework over break are teacher's pets in my opinion (haha no offense). Hope this answers your question like you wanted it to, peace .

earthwarrior : You're right, it doesn't help. A ton of people don't do the homework they are given when it's not a break and to be given homework on break makes it seem like not a break at all. Personally, I got an assignment to do all this cleaning stuff and take pictures before and after for Spanish. And the day we get back, my AP English class has to pick out a banned book and write a 3-5 page paper within one month and do that again with a classical book.

I've had this discussion with countless other people and I always come to the same conclusion....winter break should actually be a break, yet time and time again, teachers always barrage their students with assignment after assignment, and then they smile and pass out huge projects for their students to "enjoy" over break. I really hate this, for AP classes it's understandable because there is only so much information you can cover in class, and a lot of the material should be covered at home...aside from that, I don't see why teachers can't just hold off on assigning their projects until after break....it's two weeks.

I guess teachers assign stuff over break in the hopes that the material will stay fresh and their students will actually do it. Breaks are really just becoming like an extended weekend to finish schoolwork now when they should be one of the few times during the year where you can visit family or enjoy the holidays for a change without worrying about due dates... 


I could go on all day about how flawed this idea of giving work over break is, but then this word turn into a 9 page essay... 

Totally agree, even if I'm not in school anymore . But I've also been against homework from the very beginning. It's why my grades were always so low. I don't feel like teachers should give homework exclusively for you to do at home. If they have work you can do that happens to go over the actual class time then I understood. But to give students something that should only be done at home was stupid. I never did It at home anyway, I just rushed it in the next day right before the class started.
Homework to be done over a long break was even more stupid. Unless it was that one teacher who was like "Befriend your worst enemy and vanquish him" etc, lol.

As long as I don't have much homework assigned over the break, I don't mind doing it. Otherwise, I don't want homework to do over the winter break. The last day of school before Thanksgiving break, my history teacher pretty much said that there is no need to give out homework over the break, since we should be relaxing and enjoying time away from school.

If I was given homework over the break, I'd still do it, just so my grades will rise or just not slip, but I wouldn't be happy about doing something school related during a break.

I'm kind of neutral about this. If you get 1 or 2 assignments over break, whatever. It might help you retain some school knowledge when you aren't using it at all over break. On the other hand, I think it's awful when teachers assign you a project over break, or a packet. That's just plain stupid. We're supposed to be taking a BREAK, not doing school work. Luckily, my teachers are trying their best not to give us homework over break


tornadocam : I didn't know that you had a Masters agree. If you don't mind me asking, what is it in? I plan to get a high degree in Law .

On breaks, you spend extended periods of time away from your courses. The point of the packs is to ensure you don't forget everything. In reality most people do it the day before its due in a mad rush.
Ideally the parents should be ensuring there kids do it.

Popeye116 :

My College degrees are Associates in Natural Science, Bachelors in Biological Science (health emphasize), and my Masters is in Student Life and Development ( A  hybrid between psychology and higher education). Most people may not know this but I also have Autism. That is cool I say reach your dreams and get that law degree if that is what you want Blessings in Christ 

I don't think it should be allowed. Most at that age don't have the discipline yet to finish it the first day of break, and instead it becomes a source of worry throughout the entire break.

Eventually you convince yourself to start/finish the night before, and it gets done.

The problem with this is that you're never actually getting a mental break. That can eventually lead to anxiety disorders and a low stress tolerance.

Ah...work over break...
BY THE GREEK GODS ABOVE AND THE GREAT GOLDEN BRUSTLERPUTS THAT RULE OVER THEM WHILE BATTLING THE FALLEN CABABAGES OF THE SIX HUNDRED AND SIXY SIX LEGIONS OF HELL CARROTS!
I have a project that I kind of sort of FORGOT...
But WTF?! Why is there any of that stuffs anyways, I agree with SMBLOZ123, it takes time away from family members and stuffs like that. And dogs. And relaxation. And dogs. Did I mention my dogs?
But yeah...never. It means war.

I procrastinated when I got those homework packages back when I was a kid. They were always really easy though..and seem to be getting more difficult each year from what I see of my sister's homework package. Man those really sucked back then. Now..damnit I hate to say how wrong I was. I am always big on world news. I strive to not be that ignorant American and what I have found is that kids have a higher test score all across the board overseas. Some places they go to school 6 days a week. American kids got it good. Now that I think about it they shouldn't complain and neither should have I. School was a easy joke until I hit the tenth grade when math started to do away with all my numbers but I can only think of how much better I could've been if I only studied as much as my European or Asian counterparts. Maybe I am just nerdy so I think like this. I mean it is more enjoyable to have fun and say screw the hw I have an Xbox and my cousins here. It's called winter and spring break for a reason! But now, I think it is important to keep our kids' minds sharp on these academic rest periods. I mean who here remembers how to do a simple stem and leaf plot? Not me. I forgot that crap within a month because I knew it wouldn't be on any other tests. Stem and leaf plots aren't important by a long stretch but the point here is that our youths train themselves to forget subconsciously. Just because they are on breaks doesn't mean they get to unlock Baka mode. It's stem and leaf plot they forgot this time but middle school isn't important, it is high school that starts to really count. I sure as hell don't want my future kids to forget the law of cosines over winter breaks like I did. That's another thing he/she would need to cram for his/her SATs. I really do believe kids who are presented with bigger workloads will graduate as better students. Don't tell me this is unfair because the valedictorians of my graduating class are all immigrants. Hell, Linhda came over here when she was 12, became a hs athlete, took the v seat, and got a 4 year scholarship from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She ended up in berkeley and refused Stanford. This is a success story through years of hard work an determination. Sometimes I am envious that this person is not me but I have no one to blame but myself but learning to accept that makes me happy. I hope this can motivate some of our younger members to take school seriously even if it is 20 pages of winter hw.

Breaks from school are crucial for our minds. We have to be able to relax and not worry about schoolwork once in a while so we can still be able to give our best effort. For a lot of people, getting schoolwork over break easily makes them overstressed and burnt out. In my opinion, you shouldn't expect your students to do better if they're assigned schoolwork over break. Most of them will actually do worse.

From my student point of view and from the point of view of a higher standard of education, I don't think that it's a good thing to give students work over Christmas break. Students these days tend to reject their work if they consider it to be too much, and when they get back, it lowers their grades. For the go - getters who do their work (like yours truly) it is unfair, because they can not rest their brains after the intense hours of brain frying they go through and the hours they take to get their work done. Students can review for assignments during school hours and after school hours; that's enough for them to learn their subjects. Overall, the break for students should be savored, not piled on.

Yes, I even recalled when I was in school, a couple of times, I had homework during break, like I'll name a couple of examples I remember that I had homework during my break.

in 2006 (6th grade), I remember before Spring Break 2006, I happen to have to do 2 chapters of math, and that personally wasn't a really good thing for me, because I really wanted to enjoy my spring break that year, but didn't because of that math homework.
In 2009 (9th/10th grade), Even during my summer vacation between 9th and 10th grade, I had to to a big project in science where I have to capture a bunch of bugs for a project for all the difference species of insects they are, which to me, it wasn't too bad, but at the same time, come on, I don't want to do any school work during my Summer Vacation.

Those are the only two I can think of though.

Are we talking about a specific teacher here? If so, a tack on the chair might help. Well, it won't help at all, but it'll sure be funny!

This has always bothered me, but I find it a difficult concept to approach.  I think that's because, over the years, my view on teaching and student interactions has softened.

My gut makes me irritated at opinions like the ones shared above.  As teachers often say, homework over the break is meant to help students retain information, exhibit responsibility, and start the next term on a strong foot.  It's no more fun for teachers to grade all of it, than it is for students to complete it.  If students would actually take responsibility and realize that in the adult world... YES.... you'll have things to do even during 'vacations'.... if they'd adopt a less dissatisfied-with-everything / self-entitled mentalities.... they'd do it.  And then they'd realize that it really does help.  The students who DID do the work I've given in the past (even weak students) start off SOOOOOO much better than their peers that decide not to do it because they 'shouldn't have to'.  Aside from helping them retain information, they're always ready to start school again instead of still being in 'slack-mode'.  I -especially- get irritated when students act like I'm being awful by assigning homework on the weekends.  I -always- had homework on the weekends and it was expected... Kids weren't so addicted to social media and technology in order to feel like EVERY moment should be theirs to do with as they please (on weekends, I mean).

On the other hand.. I do understand kids wanting a break. Even adults want and enjoy breaks.

I think a happy medium is giving kids work over the breaks, but not a crazy amount that's going to take up a bulk of time.

(Personally, I think it's almost the self-entitled attitudes that bother me more than anything.  If a teacher assigns work over the breaks... they have every right to do so.  It is then the child's responsibility to do that work, whether they wanted to or not.  I doubt there are many people who WANT the duties imposed by work.)

Singelli : Alright. I see your point. Also, you were/are (I'm sorry, I don't know you, forgive me) a high school teacher. I'm not at the point to go to high school, so my view might be different than yours, but I feel that no work should be given during a break, ESPECIALLY summer break. Winter break, fine. We had to read for two hours in the two weeks. Now, I don't know how you teach, but my teachers give us a "summer packet" to enrich what we've learned over the past school year, and prepare for the next one. Now, back to what you said about "when I was...". Nawp. This isn't 1995. This is now 2015. Yeah, things were a lot different back then. Including teaching styles. I would think you are a cool high school teacher, you know, being on Vizzed and all. But that's my view.