Issues with son's assignment (4th grade)

[Mrs.Toad]

I feel for you! I *really* don't like these kind of assignments because we are in the same boat you are. It always wants to know "when did your family come to America" -- ummm...so far back that I have no clue & I'm a mutt basically. It wants to know what traditions you have from the home country, what foods you prepare special from there, etc... I don't HAVE any nationality foods that our family prepares that has been handed down.

I'm glad you found someone!

That's interesting, because it was the opposite for me. I was the first generation American, but most kids I knew had no idea where their ancestors came from. We never had an assignment like that - My one Vietnamese friend and I probably would have been the only ones who could have done it!

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

I hate when assignments are for the parents and not the kids like this one. My kids have had similar assignment but luckily my SIL is from another country so we were able to do it.

How is this assignment for the parents?

 

[Piecey]

How is this assignment for the parents?

Maybe because the parent has to aid the child a lot with it.
I don't know many 4th graders who could find an immigrant without parental assistance...

If I'd gotten this assignment in school I wouldn't have known anyone. I still can't think of anyone. So I'd of gone to my father who would have found a guy for me. (He works for a French company, so I could have spoken to someone from there I'm sure.)

 

[Jennasis]

Wow...wondering how I would go about finding a heroin addict if I needed to. Hmmm....

In my 4th grade class there were a number of immigrant children. Let alone members of my own family...friends of my parents...my pediatrician....our next door neighbors. I don't think it was intended to be a difficult task. Mind you, this may be because I lived near a border, but then I didn't actually meet any immigrant Canadians until I was in middle school.

Contact your doctor's office and find the num,ber for any local drug counseling centers or 12 step program. Then go and speak with the leader of the program and ask if they could find a member willing to be interviewed (Anonymously I would hope).

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

Maybe because the parent has to aid the child a lot with it.
I don't know many 4th graders who could find an immigrant without parental assistance...

If I'd gotten this assignment in school I wouldn't have known anyone. I still can't think of anyone. So I'd of gone to my father who would have found a guy for me. (He works for a French company, so I could have spoken to someone from there I'm sure.)

The assignment is to interview an immigrant. The child can do that on their own. Finding an immigrant might require some help. My first step would be to tell my child to tell the teacher we don't know one, and ask for suggestions on where to find one. I'm actually surprised that the teacher wouldn't anticipate that situation, and make suggestions in the first place. I don't see how the assignment is "for the parents and not the child".

 

[merryweather20]

The assignment is to interview an immigrant. The child can do that on their own. Finding an immigrant might require some help. My first step would be to tell my child to tell the teacher we don't know one, and ask for suggestions on where to find one. I'm actually surprised that the teacher wouldn't anticipate that situation, and make suggestions in the first place. I don't see how the assignment is "for the parents and not the child".

Finding someone is the entire assignment! If it was grandpa or grandma, yeah sure, they could just call them on the phone themselves, or ask the next time they saw them, but otherwise?

I don't know any 4th graders who are allowed to wander around willy nilly and talk to strangers. The parent will be doing the driving and the appointment making, and going through their questions extensively. Grandma and Granpa would sit through some stumbles and help them out along the way if they got off track. That isn't the case if you are sending your kid to someone you barely know who is doing you a favour.

I remember getting way too many assignments that weren't much work for me, but did require my Mom to drop everything and drive me to the library.

 

[Piecey]

The assignment is to interview an immigrant. The child can do that on their own. Finding an immigrant might require some help. My first step would be to tell my child to tell the teacher we don't know one, and ask for suggestions on where to find one. I'm actually surprised that the teacher wouldn't anticipate that situation, and make suggestions in the first place. I don't see how the assignment is "for the parents and not the child".

Finding someone is the entire assignment! If it was grandpa or grandma, yeah sure, they could just call them on the phone themselves, or ask the next time they saw them, but otherwise?

I don't know any 4th graders who are allowed to wander around willy nilly and talk to strangers. The parent will be doing the driving and the appointment making, and going through their questions extensively. Grandma and Granpa would sit through some stumbles and help them out along the way if they got off track. That isn't the case if you are sending your kid to someone you barely know who is doing you a favour.

I remember getting way too many assignments that weren't much work for me, but did require my Mom to drop everything and drive me to the library.

That is how I look at it, too. (That finding someone is the assignment)
It's not difficult to interview someone. I imagine the teacher probably gave them most of the questions or ideas for questions for the interview...
I'm still just an education student but I don't think I'd ever send a 4th grader off to interview without an idea of questions. I'd worry that they'd come back with their favorite color or holiday. While interesting, not really the point that *I* think the teacher is trying to make.

I think it's more about recognizing the immigrant status of the people around the student and learning more about the various people that make up our country.
Of course, only the teacher can really tell us.

 

[Mkrop]

The assignment is to interview an immigrant. The child can do that on their own. Finding an immigrant might require some help. My first step would be to tell my child to tell the teacher we don't know one, and ask for suggestions on where to find one. I'm actually surprised that the teacher wouldn't anticipate that situation, and make suggestions in the first place. I don't see how the assignment is "for the parents and not the child".

Not if the child is not a relative, I think that would require parental help. If my child came home with this assignment, I do have two people we could contact but I would be doing the intial consulation to ask if and when this person is available. Also I would proably be present bc both people (one from Greece and one from Italy) are both very difficult to understand, so he would probably need "help"interpreting their answers. I still struggle understanding both of these people and I have known both and talked to both a lot since I was a teenager.

 

[snookiedoodles]

I have had problems with certain other topics...email the teacher and maybe he can do something more general...like a story on Ellis Island!

 

[ma2jr]

Maybe someone on Facebook? would they object to an online interview?

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Wow...wondering how I would go about finding a heroin addict if I needed to. Hmmm....

I do not know, but I thikn she may have been permitted to find any drug addict. No idea how--but she did the assignment.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

Finding someone is the entire assignment! If it was grandpa or grandma, yeah sure, they could just call them on the phone themselves, or ask the next time they saw them, but otherwise?

"Finding someone" is the entire assignment?? So the assignment was to FIND an immigrant?

I don't know any 4th graders who are allowed to wander around willy nilly and talk to strangers. The parent will be doing the driving and the appointment making, and going through their questions extensively. Grandma and Granpa would sit through some stumbles and help them out along the way if they got off track. That isn't the case if you are sending your kid to someone you barely know who is doing you a favour.

I remember getting way too many assignments that weren't much work for me, but did require my Mom to drop everything and drive me to the library.

I don't know anyone who is allowed, nor do I see it as a requirement or necessary, to "wander around willy nilly" talking to strangers. Nor do I see it as necessary or required for a parent to go through their questions extensively. Two kids in college, and one a Jr in HS, and it's always been a HUGE requirement that they do their own work. I've rarely (not "never") helped them with anything, and somehow they've managed to do their own work AND get good grades. They're also very capable, independent and self-reliant.

That is how I look at it, too. (That finding someone is the assignment) It's not difficult to interview someone. I imagine the teacher probably gave them most of the questions or ideas for questions for the interview...

I'm still just an education student but I don't think I'd ever send a 4th grader off to interview without an idea of questions. I'd worry that they'd come back with their favorite color or holiday. While interesting, not really the point that *I* think the teacher is trying to make.

You stated that FINDING someone IS the assignment. Again, I disagree. I DON'T agree that it's not difficult to interview someone, even with the questions (which I would expect at this age). Interviewing someone is more than reading off the questions...I'm going to ASSUME that they need to get the answers and do something with those answers...a paper? An essay? A project? I think that's the assignment.

Not if the child is not a relative, I think that would require parental help. If my child came home with this assignment, I do have two people we could contact but I would be doing the intial consulation to ask if and when this person is available. Also I would proably be present bc both people (one from Greece and one from Italy) are both very difficult to understand, so he would probably need "help" interpreting their answers. I still struggle understanding both of these people and I have known both and talked to both a lot since I was a teenager.

In the scenario you present, I agree.

 

[legalsea]

Thanks everyone I did find someone for him to interview. You guys are awesome.

Sorry, but once you bring the brooms to life, it is impossible to get them to stop!

 

[Piecey]

You stated that FINDING someone IS the assignment. Again, I disagree. I DON'T agree that it's not difficult to interview someone, even with the questions (which I would expect at this age). Interviewing someone is more than reading off the questions...I'm going to ASSUME that they need to get the answers and do something with those answers...a paper? An essay? A project? I think that's the assignment.

I started on this thread by stating that I agree with the person that I quoted who said they hated assignments for parents. Imo, any assignment that requires more than 5-10minutes of help from a parent is an assignment for the parent just as much as for a kid.
I work with 3rd graders right now, so a year off, and I can safely say that VERY few of the kids in my class could find an immigrant on their own.
Therefore, in my opinion, this assignment is for the parent as well as the child. I didn't mean that the parent is doing all the work.

I also don't think an interview is a difficult task for a 4th grader.

We can agree to disagree.

 

[merryweather20]

"Finding someone" is the entire assignment?? So the assignment was to FIND an immigrant? I don't know anyone who is allowed, nor do I see it as a requirement or necessary, to "wander around willy nilly" talking to strangers. Nor do I see it as necessary or required for a parent to go through their questions extensively. Two kids in college, and one a Jr in HS, and it's always been a HUGE requirement that they do their own work. I've rarely (not "never") helped them with anything, and somehow they've managed to do their own work AND get good grades. They're also very capable, independent and self-reliant. You stated that FINDING someone IS the assignment. Again, I disagree. I DON'T agree that it's not difficult to interview someone, even with the questions (which I would expect at this age). Interviewing someone is more than reading off the questions...I'm going to ASSUME that they need to get the answers and do something with those answers...a paper? An essay? A project? I think that's the assignment. In the scenario you present, I agree.

How are they going to "do" this assignment without the Mom doing as I listed in my post?

The assignment requires EXTENSIVE time out of Mom or Dad to do exactly as I listed in my post. Without this EXTENSIVE time it doesn't get done. I consider going over the question a bare bones courtesy to the interviewee. Nope, not a requirement, but its definitely the way a parent should conduct themselves when they are asking a favour out of someone else. It has nothing to do with being capable and self-reliant.

When I was in school I "did" the assignment, the essay, the project whatever. A thougtful and concientious teacher would give me assignments that I could do on my own, the due date would be past our library time and all the required activities would be things I was allowed to do.

A less caring teacher would send out a list of things I needed for tomorrow. I "did" these assignments to, but it never sat well with me that I got good grades because my Mom would drive me to the library at the drop of a hat. I did all the running around at the library, I took pen to paper, by your definition my Mom "never" helped me. Funny thing is I couldn't have done the assignments from the second set of teachers without an awful lot of her time.

 

[FSUDisneyGirl]

I think it would be awesome if you called a nursing home/ assisted care place to see if you could find someone to talk to. Many times, the elderly love people to talk to and the people who work there may be able to match you up with someone perfectly! Who knows...your daughter may even develop a very special relationship with someone.