I asked him if he felt comfortable talking to his teacher about the rough draft. He said “no.” So I wrote her an email myself to explain how much time he put into it and to explain his frustration at the rough draft failing grade. (BTW, why would a rough draft even BE graded?)
When he came home from school, he said the teacher talked to him about his rough draft and explained what she wanted him to do to improve it and that it wouldn’t make up a very big % of the final grade. He felt much better after speaking to her about it. Good.
She wrote me a reply email complete with all the elements of a response that I’m accustomed to seeing from teachers who defend assignments.
1. Time management – he had 3 weeks to do it & should be spreading out the work
(How many ADULTS manage their time that wisely?)
2. Project history – it’s a project that has been part of the curriculum at this school for at least 15 years
(Maybe it’s time to try something new?)
3. Limited class time – it does require outside class time and would be impossible to complete in class
(Then why assign it?)
4. Explanation of teaching – they do many labs in class to help students understand concepts
(Great. Then why give this project, too?)
5. Preparing for the future – this project gives the students a strong foundation for their science classes in high school
(What part of this project will they really remember when they get to high school?)
The only part of the process that my son enjoyed was the actual testing of the catapult. And when I asked my other son if he remembered doing this project two years ago, he said the part he remembered was the testing of his glider and launching it off the second story of our house. I also remember that his teacher lost his glider (which he worked very hard on) after he turned it in.
As my son and I were building the first attempt at the catapult last weekend I couldn’t help but think that this would have been a great small group exercise done in class. If students were working together (and struggling together) to try to make a catapult they would have had a much more valuable learning experience. (BTW, I mentioned this in an email to the teacher.)
Businesses are complaining that college graduates are not skilled in problem solving and team work. We need as much cooperative, small group learning as possible in the classroom. Perhaps ask the adults to supply the materials for the in-class work and let the kids solve the problem together? Or, let the kids fail at solving the problem together and then discuss and write about their successes and failures. That would have been a much more meaningful essay than the prescriptive report assigned with this project.
I’m not angry or bitter that my son was assigned this project. In fact, I enjoyed watching him test the catapult and get excited about it. But, I think it could have been a better learning experience for him and all the students (and families) in 8th grade if it had been an in-class activity, done in small groups without any outside parent help.
