Diorama, really? And it's due WHEN?

[Cornhusk]

Honestly, I think it is a fun idea that also allows for some creativity and flexibility to break the norm of the numerous research papers. Besides, DI teaching method that does allow a student to not only use his brain but also his skills.

 

[Ohiodislover]

And as to the OP, her son knew about the project for 6 weeks, so she shouldn't be mad at the teacher.

And she replied to the other people who posted this same sentiment. She blames the kid for not doing it sooner.

My DD (11) and I are staying home from our family's trip to see family this weekend, for yet another project for school. She received the project last Friday, and it is due this Tues. She has to write a 4-5 page story, with original cover artwork, build a project that represents the story, make a map, and develop a dictionary for the story.

Of course all of this is on top of regular work, and her band concert, and art show, which took up 2 of our evenings this week. Both were required to attend as part of the grade. She had a field trip yesterday, which she did not return from till 11 pm last evening.

Her teacher's comments/excuse in the email that the parents rec'd last Friday 5/21, was that all the snow days has really pushed things to the last weeks of school. Not sure how that defends giving the kids only 10 days for such a large project while knowing all the other required events of the final weeks of school, and that one of the 2 weekends was a holiday weekend where most go out of town.

 

[Tiger926]

Sorry, but it's crafts.

You can write an critical analysis of a book, which I'll agree is far better than a book report. That's education. When you then have to cut the analysis up and glue it on a fake sandwich, that's crafts.

You can certainly write a journal about being an Egyptian worker. That's taking what you've learned and using it critically. That part shows learning. When you have to muck around providing ersatz papyrus and writing on it with fake reeds, that's crafts.

If you teach a science or math class about the math, physics and materials science of building pyramids, and have the kids build one and demonstrate mathematically and scientifically why certain materials and processes had to be used, that's education.

If you're making the kids create a cute looking pyramid out of whatever as a trendy exercise to pretend you're doing "differentiated learning," that's crafts.

Dh is a public school teacher. I'm faculty at a university. We are not unfamiliar with the educational theory, research or literature.

Based on this comment, I'm thinking you might be a bit unfamiliar with the concept, IMHO. The university world is so much different!

Let me explain from a highschool teacher perspective. If the educational goal is to understand Egyptian pyramids, then there are multiple ways to do that besides pen and paper tasks. You can:

- build a diorama of a pyramid
- build a pyramid out of legos or other building blocks
- draw an architectural drawing of a pyramid built to scale either by hand or on computer
- do a Powerpoint presentation on how pyramids were buit
- complete a written report
- complete an art collage combined with written text

All of these, depending upon the scope of the project, will fulfill the same goal = understanding an Egyptian pyramid. But, the students have accomplished these goals in a variety of ways. For those students who are love art, they will more than likely choose a diorama or sketch, and for those who love research and writing, they will choose a written report, and still for those who love computers, they can complete a slideshow showcasing the architecture of the pyramids. We can go even further, and for those students who are well-rounded learners, they can write a journal as if they were an Egyptian worker building the pyramids, and then combine this with an artistic component to showcase what it is they are building as those workers.

All of these assignments hit on different learning styles, and that is what DI is all about. Pencil and paper tasks are old-fashioned and mostly just serve to justify archaic educational philosophies. The world is full of different brains, and different ways to accomplish tasks, so as teachers, the best way for us to fully prepare students for this is to introduce them to a variety of assignments and assessment/evaluation practices. There should never be only one way of accomplishing a task...

Thanks, Tiger

 

[lovesmurfs]

An assignment that was given 6 weeks ago, is not last minute. The OP's son was last minute - no need to blame teacher for his procrastinatory nature on this project. Plus, it sounds like OP doesn't go through homework assignments with her son, because if she did, she herself would have known about the project as well. If it's sink or swim for every other part of schoolwork, why all of a sudden help out with a project? I would never have helped him with this, drives me batty when parents do this. All this does is reinforce the idea that it's ok to procrastinate and not organize one's self, as mommy and daddy will come to the rescue. Now, perhaps a diorama may not have been the best project to assign in this case, but it was assigned, and it needed to be completed, end of story.

One day in college/university or the working world, he is going to need to know how to organize his time, and how to learn how to work with personalities he doesn't like, or, on projects he doesn't care for. Such is life...

Okay, I was really enjoying the running comments until this assumption came through. I did not help him on the project except find him paint, brushes and point out a cardboard box he could use. I, as I said in my initial post, went to bed. I didn't even see the final project because he finished it up before school, after I'd left for work.

I can totally see the pros and cons of this kind of assignment. I was more frustrated because I had thought that, except for final exams, we were pretty much done with school (they're done with finals on June 3rd). DS has ADHD (medicated) and from kindergarten through middle school, every day he and I would go through his backpack, and we'd sit down and go through everything. We worked out a system using an accordion file, one slot for each of his classes. We managed; he managed.

Midway through last year (9th grade) it hit me that he needed to be weaned away from "Mommy will catch the projects" and we sat down and talked about it. Once he's in college, if he ends up going, I won't be there to pick up the pieces. He needs to internalize, to take ownership and responsibility for his work and assignments, and HE needs to have the desire to earn better grades -- All of the groundings, removal of electronic equipment, etc. won't make any difference unless he wants it.

He's muddled along all right through the year (although he's currently failing algebra...), and has asked for help on several things throughout the year. I felt disappointed and let down after all that we've been through, and this felt like a backhand slap to what I thought we'd accomplished.

He WILL need to deal with organizing his life in the real world. Don't assume that I'm not involved or that I did the work for him.

 

[tomthebarncat]

GRRRRR...

So DS16 has his band concert last night -- it was wonderful. We get home at 9:15 with pizza for all. Around 10, he informs us that for his English class he has a diorama due the next day -- Do we have grey spray paint? It was assigned six weeks ago. Six WEEKS ago. He was just beginning work on it.

After getting together what we could (and after the requisite parental blustering), I went to bed and wondered what on earth what the value of a diorama assignment in a sophomore honors English class (on "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy) could possibly be?

Sigh. Summer break can't start soon enough for me! Anyone else with last minute projects?

Your kid had 6 weeks to do this and chose not to do it until the night before. I would have let him do it all himself and gone to bed. 16 is old enough to know better!! and to suffer the consequences of actions or inactions!!

 

[bgirldeb]

School was over yesterday.

Yea....a diorama sounds like stupid busy work. I mean that is something for 3rd graders.

Don't you mean 3rd graders' parents? That's how it always ends up around here anyway...

 

[Tiger926]

Okay, I was really enjoying the running comments until this assumption came through. I did not help him on the project except find him paint, brushes and point out a cardboard box he could use. I, as I said in my initial post, went to bed. I didn't even see the final project because he finished it up before school, after I'd left for work.

I can totally see the pros and cons of this kind of assignment. I was more frustrated because I had thought that, except for final exams, we were pretty much done with school (they're done with finals on June 3rd). DS has ADHD (medicated) and from kindergarten through middle school, every day he and I would go through his backpack, and we'd sit down and go through everything. We worked out a system using an accordion file, one slot for each of his classes. We managed; he managed.

Midway through last year (9th grade) it hit me that he needed to be weaned away from "Mommy will catch the projects" and we sat down and talked about it. Once he's in college, if he ends up going, I won't be there to pick up the pieces. He needs to internalize, to take ownership and responsibility for his work and assignments, and HE needs to have the desire to earn better grades -- All of the groundings, removal of electronic equipment, etc. won't make any difference unless he wants it.

He's muddled along all right through the year (although he's currently failing algebra...), and has asked for help on several things throughout the year. I felt disappointed and let down after all that we've been through, and this felt like a backhand slap to what I thought we'd accomplished.

He WILL need to deal with organizing his life in the real world. Don't assume that I'm not involved or that I did the work for him.

I took that when you said you got together everything you could, that this means you helped him. There were details missing, so I just went with what you wrote in your original post. Sorry about that.

As you can see in my other post, I said if a student is learning challenged, then he is excepted from getting help. In this case, you should be helping him with organization and such as this is a major weakness of learning challenged/ADHD kids. So, you wouldn't get any flack from me as a Spec Ed teacher with the fact that you helped him - a diorama is a complicated project. It sounds like you have a good balance, so that's great! That's wonderful as most of my students do not have helpful parents at home who actually are able to help them with organization and time management. You said you were disappointed in how he handled this one assignment, but if you were one of my parents, I would point out the positives to you in regards to his growth throughout the year. Remember, 1 project does not make or break an entire year - it is not representative of how well he has done all year. It's just 1 project, of many, that I'm sure he's had to complete this year.

Best of luck to your son in finishing off his year, Tiger

 

[declansdad]

Sorry, but it's crafts.

You can write an critical analysis of a book, which I'll agree is far better than a book report. That's education. When you then have to cut the analysis up and glue it on a fake sandwich, that's crafts.

You can certainly write a journal about being an Egyptian worker. That's taking what you've learned and using it critically. That part shows learning. When you have to muck around providing ersatz papyrus and writing on it with fake reeds, that's crafts.

If you teach a science or math class about the math, physics and materials science of building pyramids, and have the kids build one and demonstrate mathematically and scientifically why certain materials and processes had to be used, that's education.

If you're making the kids create a cute looking pyramid out of whatever as a trendy exercise to pretend you're doing "differentiated learning," that's crafts.

Dh is a public school teacher. I'm faculty at a university. We are not unfamiliar with the educational theory, research or literature.

You don't seem to be able to see outside the box though. Being faculty at a university doesn't mean a person understands a classroom or all educational methods. In fact, many education professors have never set foot inside a classroom outside of the university setting.

 

[Mrs.Reese]

Don't you mean 3rd graders' parents? That's how it always ends up around here anyway...

Which is the precise reason that all my students start their projects in school.

 

[vettechick99]

I remember doing that procrastination mess in high school. One time I stayed up all night making a DNA model out of empty eggs and wood (made a 100!) and the next time a 3-d clay model of a country for geography (so NOT a 100 ). I still procrastinate now, but not near as bad. It's almost impossible to do so in graduate school.

And I like teachers who give different assessments than the typical test or paper. Shows they are trying to meet the varied learning needs of kids. So no one knock the teacher!

 

[valeriemouse]

You don't seem to be able to see outside the box though. Being faculty at a university doesn't mean a person understands a classroom or all educational methods. In fact, many education professors have never set foot inside a classroom outside of the university setting.

I totally agree here. College is a whole other world then HS or MS. If I was asked to make a diorama in college, I might have been a bit confused.

Pigeon, don't you think that ALWAYS writing a paper as an assessment is not a fair judge of the students knowledge of the material? Yea, you can write a critical analysis of a book, but you can also FIND a critical analysis of most books that are in school curriculums online. Which is, again, basically a read and regurgitate information situation. And while sometimes words are enough, and I do assign papers, sometimes challenging students to think outside the box is appropriate too.

I had read a thread on here yesterday talking about a school where every single assessment involves students acting out what they've learned. That is lopsided as well. It's necessary to give students the outlet to find out how they learn best, but also IMPROVE on what they may be lacking in - such as public speaking or "creating" (again, IT'S NOT CRAFTS) IMO, teachers should mix it up to help students become well-rounded.