Fun in the trenches, Volume II:
* The prompt that TAKS is using for the 7th-grade essays I'm grading is (I'm paraphrasing) "Discuss a time that you thought you were right about something." Some of the students have used the prompt in very creative ways. Many, for example, have chosen to discuss high-stakes bets that they made on the Superbowl (or other sporting events). With their parents.
"I thought I was right that the Cardinals would beat the Steelers, but I guess I was wrong, so now I have to pay my dad the $100 that I owe him." I shit you not.
* I'm also getting a lot of papers about kids giving their parents the wrong directions. "I thought I was right that we needed to take a left at that stop sign, but I guess I was wrong. So now I have to pay my dad the $100 that I owe him." Yes, that's right, they're betting on stuff like that, too. I shit you not.
* While we're on the subject of the prompt, I can't tell you how many times over the last week that I've read some variation of the phrase, "Have you ever had a time when you thought you were right, but turned out to be wrong?" It's usually the first line of the paper; frequently one of the last lines in the paper; and on some occasions, is used in one or more of the paragraphs in the body of the paper. If I'm lucky enough to be reading a paper with discrete paragraphs, that is.
* On a positive note, the colorful use of metaphor is oftentimes quite entertaining. One of my kids referred to something (I forget what exactly) as "permanent like a Sharpie," which I thought was a massive win.
* After a week-plus of grading assessment papers, and taking into consideration the fact that children are our future, I can safely say that apes should be ruling the earth within about 20-30 years.
* The prompt that TAKS is using for the 7th-grade essays I'm grading is (I'm paraphrasing) "Discuss a time that you thought you were right about something." Some of the students have used the prompt in very creative ways. Many, for example, have chosen to discuss high-stakes bets that they made on the Superbowl (or other sporting events). With their parents.
"I thought I was right that the Cardinals would beat the Steelers, but I guess I was wrong, so now I have to pay my dad the $100 that I owe him." I shit you not.
* I'm also getting a lot of papers about kids giving their parents the wrong directions. "I thought I was right that we needed to take a left at that stop sign, but I guess I was wrong. So now I have to pay my dad the $100 that I owe him." Yes, that's right, they're betting on stuff like that, too. I shit you not.
* While we're on the subject of the prompt, I can't tell you how many times over the last week that I've read some variation of the phrase, "Have you ever had a time when you thought you were right, but turned out to be wrong?" It's usually the first line of the paper; frequently one of the last lines in the paper; and on some occasions, is used in one or more of the paragraphs in the body of the paper. If I'm lucky enough to be reading a paper with discrete paragraphs, that is.
* On a positive note, the colorful use of metaphor is oftentimes quite entertaining. One of my kids referred to something (I forget what exactly) as "permanent like a Sharpie," which I thought was a massive win.
* After a week-plus of grading assessment papers, and taking into consideration the fact that children are our future, I can safely say that apes should be ruling the earth within about 20-30 years.
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
threestares:
i was completely traumatized by 'planet of the apes' the first (and only) time i saw it.
signalnoise:
Wow. When you tell me that, I can't help but wonder if the problem isn't more "professionalization" (broadly speaking) than writing ability. As in, no one has really told these kids how to write an essay, and not so much that they can't.