What Do Homework Wars Have to Do With the Learning Curve?

w many of you are aware of the four stages ofis a reason for doing something, that it is not just
learning. We usually refer to these stages as thebusy work, they are more apt to do it without
learning curve. I'm going to talk about thosecomplaint.
stages of learning and relate them to the readingAren't we the same? When we don't know how
process and then homework.to do something, do we do it readily? If you are
The LEARNING CURVEanything like me, you probably do the things that
1. Unconscious Incompetence: The first stage iscome easily first and put off the things you don't
when you don't know what you don't know.know how to do very well.
Remember back when you first started school.If we haven't consciously put an activity or chore
You were probably excited about being able tointo our schedule does it always get done on
learn how to read. I know I was because mytime? I can't begin to think about the countless
older siblings were already reading. But I didn'ttimes I have been stressed because I'm up on
know what the alphabet was or that it evendeadline for a project because other things took
existed let alone that it had twenty-six letters.me longer than I had expected. And, I think of
2. Conscious Incompetence: The second stage ismyself as being pretty good at time
when you now know what you don't know. Thismanagement.
is when you learn that there is an alphabet andWhen we don't understand why we need to do a
that the letters stood for sounds, and that youtask, especially one that is pointless in our opinion,
could actually combine letters to make additionaldo we do it quickly and well or do we
sounds. You know that you need to learn theprocrastinate about doing it? Isn't this familiar to
sounds of the letters and the sounds of theyou? And, if we see the value of doing
combined letters. You also know that you need tosomething, don't we give it a higher priority and
figure out how these letters combine to formpay a little more attention to it, and get it done in
words.a timely fashion? I know I do!
3. Conscious Competence: The third stage is whenI'll never forget the day one of my students,
you now know it, but you have to concentrate toMichelle, was having a hard time with her writing
use what you know. This is the stage of readingassignment. As we started our lesson, I
where you have finally put letters together toautomatically said to Michelle, "You need to do it
make words, but you have to concentrate tothis way because…". Her mother
sound them out. You are actually working atoverheard me and started laughing and said to
reading each word.Michelle, "I told you she'd explain why." Later, her
4. Unconscious Competence: you know it, and youmom told me how frustrated she had been and
can do it without thinking about it. This is thethat she had been arguing with her about it. She
stage of reading where fluency takes over. Youfinally said, "Let's take it into the Learning Center.
are able to automatically retrieve the words andYou know Bonnie, she'll explain to you why you
become a fluent reader. Reading becomes secondneed to do it that way." When our children
nature. It is easy.understand the why of things, they buy into doing
Every time we learn a new task, we go throughthem with greater ease.
these steps. As parents, we don't usually thinkOne More Reason...
about this relating to our jobs. When we start aThe other reason I'm going on about this is that
new job or task we know there is what we referwe can actually help our child expedite their
to as a learning curve. We know that once wemovement from unconscious incompetence to
become more familiar with the new job or task itunconscious competence by doing a few simple
will become easier and easier. Eventually the taskthings with our kids on a regular basis.
becomes second nature to us. That is whatFor instance, we can help them move from
happened when we learned to read, or to ride aworking hard at reading to becoming fluent
bike, or to make a meal. It is difficult at first butreaders with a few minutes a day of reading
gradually we move from the unconsciousspecific reading drills that work on fluency,
incompetence to unconscious competence.tracking, and the rapid retrieval system at the
So, Why Am I Even Going On Aboutsame time. This practice not only improves their
This…and What Does It Have to Do Withreading skills, but also makes doing any reading
Homework Wars?writing assignment easier. They will even be able
Think about it, what often happens is that weto read the directions for the assignments with
expect our kids to be able to get right to theirease. And, helping your child with the reading drills
homework assignments and complete them withprovides a little bit of structured one-on-one time
ease. We also expect them to be able to readper day with your child.
with ease, do writing assignments with ease, andSo, when we remember the learning curve (the 4
do math assignments with ease. If we keep instages of learning) we help to move our children
mind this learning curve, the four stages ofinto that fourth stage faster. The result is less
learning, we may end up being more patient andhomework wars, kids that learn better time
helpful to our kids and have a more pleasantmanagement skills, kids that understand why they
homework time.are doing their assignments, kids that are more
Keeping the learning curve (the 4 stages offluent readers so they understand how to do the
learning) in mind, kids need to learn how to doassignments by reading the directions, and kids
homework, when to do their homework, and whythat buy into the assignments and do them more
they are doing it. When children understand therereadily. So, all in all, it's a win-win situation.