What is this parent thinking!! UGH!

[Pin Wizard]

I remember back to school night when DS was in 4th grade. His teacher told us about some of the projects they would be working on. She said that if their project was "perfect," don't expect to see an "A." Yahooooooooooo!! I still remember DS's science project. It was good and certainly looked like a 4th grader did it. He came home with an "A."

Now? Ugh! I have to admit to helping him too much on one assignment because it was running on 11 p.m.! Never again. Now he knows to start things well before, not the night before it's due! Still hate myself for helping as much as I did. Just got his report card and had a conference with his teacher on Friday. He's in major trouble for one thing he "chose" to do. Rather than work on a book report on a book he read over the summer, he pretty much said what was on the back cover as his oral report! Teacher snagged him on it and told him she couldn't give him any credit for it. Got his whopping zero that he deserved which completely ruined his grade in the class since it was a major grade.

 

[Cindy B]

well, guess what?

We did not allow my son to go trick or treating because he had a project due last week, and did not do it on time. Since he procrastinated, and did not do his work on time, he was not allowed to go trick or treating.

He stayed home and finished his project. He did all the work on the project as well, including coloring, writing, typing and coloring. He did have one week to do it, he decided not to do it in that time frame, and was aware aware of the consequences (no trick or treating) if he didn't do it.

I guess he wanted to test us, so he chose not to do it. Yesterday, he learned a very hard lesson.

 

[Cindy B]

Originally posted by N.Bailey
disykat,
I really do understand what you're saying. Both of my children are in 7th grade this year, but 6th grade was the most difficult where homework was concerned. I'm so thankful we made it through!!

I'm a little upset myself tonight. My kids for language arts homework had to draw a picture of something that represented evil (the devil is what they both chose, my daughter choosing a cartoon type symbol while my son chose something more dramatic) and then they had to draw something to represent hope. My daughter drew a picture of an angel holding a sign that said, "LOVE," and my son drew a cross with Christ on it. Then, because they're studying mythology, they each had to choose a figure to draw too. My daughter drew Pegasus and my son chose Medusa (very difficult to draw, lemmie tell ya! LOL).

Now, this is a language arts class, where this teacher gives NO spelling tests, and refuses to teach parts of speech because she says these kids should already know all that.

As stated, they are both in 7th grade now and neither one of them has had an art class since 5th grade, but this particular language arts teacher CONSTANTLY makes these kids draw these types of pictures (and my kids can both draw better than I can) instead of teaching them something they might actually use in life.

!

I work at a middle school, and in our language arts class, there is a lot of poster work as well. (I'm not the language teacher though)

Posters, presentations, and such is very common. Not teaching parts of speech in 7th grade is common as well.

Posters are used for visual and tactile (hands on ) learners. Many middle schoolers in my school do better on posters, than on actual written reports. Most written reports are actually done by parents or are cut and pasted (plagirized) completely by websites.

Since that type of written report is wasted learning (what are you learning? that mom can do it for you, or that you can cut and paste onto a page?)-- posters are a better option.

We tell the student (we do a lot of posters in my Science and Social Studies classes) that you dont have to be an artist. We are not expecting artwork, but looking for something in the realm of a 6th grader. I work with special ed kids, so my students posters are not "perfect". They do what they choose to do, (some do fantastic work and they tried really hard, and some do the bare minimum)

Basically, what I am saying is that posters are a great way for the kid themselve to learn. Ask a student what they learned about mythology, and they will remember what they drew. My class last year made Mythology trading cards similiar to yu gi oh cards. Students from three years ago, still remember these gods and goddesse because of the trading cards!

 

[delilah]

Several years ago, my husband and I used to judge science fair projects at my cousin's school (we are both scientists, of course; I'm a physician, and he is a chemist). We both agreed that the projects that looked like a child the age that we were judging should get better marks than those that looked like mom or dad did most of the work. One parent in particular was perturbed about our grading method, since his son, who had a very slick looking air foil project, didn't get to go to the state competition, but, somebody else, who obviously had designed and investigated her project, did. Would you believe that this was the last year that this school participated in the state program?

We weren't the only people judging, of course, and we didn't judge the same grades. My cousin's daughter, who we didn't judge, actually made it to the state competition. I am thinking that the perturbed parent above somehow learned that we were related, and complained to the degree that the school no longer did the state competition.

We still judge science fairs, of course, but not in family members schools.

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

This sort of parental behavior really steams my clams--my DD9 just LOVES the big projects, and wouldn't let me help her if I tried, although I've been known to proofread or listen to a presentation.

Right now, it's an "I Love NY" project due tomorrow. You could make a poster, mobile, diorama, etc. promoting a tourist spot in NY. Well, she chose the Museum of Natural History, and has made 2 posters, a diorama, a brochure, and address cards to hand out. If she had more time, I would need a U-haul to get it all to school! But it looks like she did it--all I did was help her access the internet and find a few special things on the computer (like the heart symbol). So, it looks like a very ambitious fourth grader did it. I sure hope her teacher appreciates that it was actual 9-year-old work. But the teachers must have some clue, from school work, who is putting in a lot of effort and who isn't. I know my daughter has done other projects where it's been graded high even if her work looks like, well, she put all the thought into it.

Bottom line, you're doing your kid no favors, and only stroking your own ego, if you don't let them "earn" a grade--and even learn from a poor experience.

 

[piratesmate]

Originally posted by tiggerlover
......I have to admit, I do help DS with his homework sometimes, but I never do it for him. What I mean by this is I always go over his homework after he is done and if he did something wrong I will show him which problem is wrong and then together we will discuss it. I will find out why he came up with the answer he did and then explain to him (without doing the work) how he should have gone about doing it to get the right answer. And recently with his book report he was stumped so what we did was get the book out and re-read sections together so that he could come up with more ideas. .......

That's not helping with homework. That's teaching him how to do it. There's a HUGE difference & you're a great mom! When I was teaching these are the types of things I did with my kids when I had the time.

Coming from the opposite side of this, I have had so much trouble with some of my kids' teachers over getting them to believe that they wrote things, not me! DS was given a zero from at least one teacher every year. I was always having to go up to the school & request that they ask the kid to sit in front of a computer & write something for them. (Hand writing was always a problem...he'd keep things short because of it & that was often part of the problem.) The grades were always changed & rarely challenged a second time. However, he always struggled with feeling that teachers didn't want to believe him.

DD's LA teacher this year is the husband of her 6th grade LA teacher. She turned in an essay that he told the class was "definitely NOT the work of an 8th grade student." She burst into tears & it took him some time to convince her that he'd meant it as a compliment & knew it was her own work because he'd shown it to his wife the night before & they'd discussed it.

 

[bananiem]

I just had to pop in to say that a coloring page for a 5 -7 year old is usually an exercise to help them master fine motor control. If the parent is doing it for them the child's fine motor skills are not being helped. Also, if the parent does it to like like a 6 year old did it it may be "too messy" and, in turn, create more of these pages to be required as practice for the child since that is who the teacher thinks is doing it.
I agree that the parents doing the actual work is teaching the child the wrong message. A parent who is available to answer questions during homework time and then checks over the work is doing a great thing for their child.

 

[shortbun]

The homework assigned by our school is considered "family work."
It is intended for parents to work along side their children and
teach or explain as the child does the work. Sometimes I have
DS do it alone as I think he needs to be able to do that too.
He can always come to us for help. I think he enjoys his solo
work as much or more sometimes as the work we do together.
Children need to own their work, it builds self-esteem and
confidence.

 

[DoeWDW]

I admit to allowing my artistic daughter to draw the artwork for my "not very artistic" son's posters, etc. The deal is that he must come up with the idea and draw a rough (and I mean ROUGH ) sketch and then she'll do the finished artwork. If appropriate, he does the final coloring.

These kids are 15 and 16 years old. Each of them has their gifts and I feel my son's grade should not be penalized if he doesn't draw well.