West Chester University 3E Institute
Student Teacher Educator 500 Award – Fall 2010
Monica Simpson
“Homework Help!” Night
Most students are rushed with homework and do not have a proper transition into working on their homework.
Homework is an essential part to a child’s success because it reinforces the content learned in school by teaching
students and parents the skills to prepare themselves to be focused and ready to work. Therefore I created a
“Homework Help!” night. The night was comprised of four different presentations in each of the 2nd grade classrooms.
The families rotated after every 20/25 minutes to the different presentations. There were two presentations by the
second grade teachers on “Just Right” books (Barbara Wackerman) and Problem Solving Strategies (Diane Myers). Mary
Dugan of the Chester County Intermediate Unit presented a presentation entitled, “Handwriting Help,” and I presented
“Yoga to Focus,” an interactive yoga presentation that gave parents the skills to help their children focus their energy
and get both the minds and bodies ready to work. The project addressed the needs of the students because many of
these parents had never had the opportunity to learn the information that was presented. In fact, when I first brought
the idea to the 2nd grade team they were enthralled because it gave them the opportunity to address the needs that they
had been seeing the classroom for years. There was a need to teach parents and students the new ways to solve
problems in mathematics as well as knowing how to pick appropriate reading material. Parents also needed to learn
ways to help their children with handwriting and penmanship. The students are learning these techniques in school but
the parents were not. By providing them with the opportunity to learn about the techniques and skills being used they
will be better equipped to help their children when they are at home doing homework.
Mary Dugan, Occupational Therapist of the Chester County Intermediate Unit, was excited to be a part of the
“Homework, Help” night. She presented valuable information about how to hold writing utensils, how to make your
own writing tools with supplies from home as well as information about writing in general. I spoke to a child yoga
instructor and owner of Body Works Karate Center and he provided not only insight, but also literature to help me
choose the most appropriate poses for both children and adults. By utilizing the resources the school had, Promethean
boards, a venue, folders for the parents, tables to put the refreshments on, and by utilizing the resources and insightful
professionals within the district; the teachers, occupational therapist, and the community members, and Jonathon
Shapero of Body Works Karate Center, we were able to execute a wonderful, informational evening where families left
not only excited about the information learned, but also ready to try the new things that were posed.
The project supported the new mathematics curriculum, Investigations, with the “Problem Solving Strategies”
presentation, the reading curriculum with the “’Just Right’ Books” presentation, the writing curriculum with the
“Handwriting Help”, and the physical education curriculum with the “Yoga to Focus” presentation. Each presentation
was not only aligned with the curriculum but also the PA state standards.
The entire project was a collaborative effort from the 2 nd grade team at Mary C Howse Elementary School, the
owner of Body Work Karate Center, and the occupational therapist, Mary Dugan from the CCIU, for the school district.
On the night of the presentations the fellow West Chester University student teachers, William Holt and Alessandra
Simiriglio were not only in attendance, but they helped facilitate the event and were a wonderful asset. Their help was
crucial, William helped with setting up the presentations and Alessandra stayed at the reception table to help the late
attendees find an appropriate place and she also photographed the evening. The collaboration between fellow
colleagues, experienced teachers, the occupational therapist and yoga instructor was the most important piece of the
event, because without the constant collaboration and support I would not have been able to bring such a wonderful
event together. But with the collaboration and I was able to propose the evening to the principal and execute a great
event that the families benefited from immensely.
The entire evening was assessed by the completion of an exit survey, which was distributed to everyone in
attendance. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive. One parent in attendance even wrote an email to the principal
discussing what a wonderful evening it was and how they would love to see it for every grade level!
Our students have needs that should be addressed and with the right amount of planning, collaboration and
utilization of the resources available, I learned that it is possible to address their needs by providing the information
necessary for achievement to the parents, because if we are able to reinforce the ideas they are learning in the
classroom then they will achieve. The exit surveys were copied and given to all the presenters and I think the event will
be used in future years to come. I created a Wiki site (https://sites.google.com/site/msmonicasimpson/About-Me) so
that way the parents can access all of the information that was presented during the evening as well as pictures of the
event, the research behind the presentations, and even videos and websites to help them integrate yoga into their daily
lives. With the use of technology I thought it was essential to have a site where they could access the presentation
information at a moments notice instead of relying on paper copies that could potentially be lost. Paper copies were also
distributed as well as folders and pencils, but they were incredibly excited to hear about the Wiki site.
Overall, this experience was wonderful. It gave me the opportunity to collaborate with others and create an
evening of learning that will help our students achieve to their highest potential, and after all isn’t that the goal? It’s my
goal: to create learning environments where our students can succeed, both in the classroom and at home.