So, many of you know that I work part-time helping second and third graders with reading, writing, and math. I LOVE my job and the kids I work with. It is SO rewarding to see their faces light up when they "get something" or when they are successful. I am proud to make a difference (even if it's small) in their lives and help them experience learning.
Anyway, I went in to work with my second grade students and they were copying the following poem from the board. After they copied it, they had to write AT LEAST 4 sentences about what the poem means to them. Again, second grade, this is.
DECEMBER
I like days with a snow-white collar,
And nights when the moon is a silver dollar,
And hills are filled with eiderdown stuffing,
And your breath makes smoke like an engine puffing.
I like days when feathers are snowing,
And all the eaves have petticoats showing,
And the air is cold and the wires are humming,
But you feel all warm... with Christmas coming!
Now, I have a lot of issues with this assignment AND with this poem.
Here's a few of them (remember, second grade!):
1. Having kids copy from the board is "old school" and has no value what-so-ever.
2. Second grade students cannot and do not relate to this poem- never mind the vocabulary, tone, and message of the poem.
3. It mentions Christmas- what about those who celebrate Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or those who don't celebrate any winter holidays.
4. How can second graders write 4 sentences about something that they don't understand?
Maybe I am out of line or over reacting BUT I saw how the students in this class were struggling with this and becoming real frustrated! Luckily, I saved the day and helped these young learners with this pointless assignment.
Any thoughts? Ideas? Reactions?
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2 comments:
How did you save the day? It sounds like a pretty painful assignment. Was the classroom teacher helping them? Did she see that it was a problem? Yes the Christmas thing is not OK. Our school is very diverse and many families would most likely be offended. It sounds like the teacher had some work to do and needed her students to do independent work (not so appropriate for 2nd graders). It reminds me a little of the meaningless worksheets we would get throughout school back in the day.
Well, this is what I did:
1- Re-wrote the poem onto paper so the kids could copy it at their desks and not from the board, which is hard.
2- Discussed the vocabulary in the poem.
3- Explained the meaning of the poem the best I could.
The teacher did not help the kids... she was working with reading groups while the rest of the class was doing this task. Her main focus of this lesson was to get a handwriting sample!?!?
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