3.29.2004
Schooled
I always enjoy helping with homework. Lots of times I have a handful of kids working on same or similar projects. Lately it's been Black History Month biographies (yes, in March), the solar system, poetry, summarizing current event newspaper articles, and country studies. Good ol librarian work. Yes indeedy I like it.
And then there are those kids who insist that they have to do a biography on Bow Wow or B2K or -honest to god- Lizzie McGuire (a cartoon). And it's really important that this student has lots and lots and lots of pictures. "Writing" is copying random information from the page and pasting it into Word. It's exhausting. Last week I got a little steamed when a kid chose to do a bio of a celebrity and not someone who deserves study. I turned into that bitchy judgmental librarian I hoped not to be by saying stuff like, "Research someone who actually made an impact on our world and a contribution to society!" I just got blank stares in return.
But the real glimpse into my students' education is when 12 year olds don't know the difference between city, county, state, and country. Kids think big cities like Dallas or LA are states. And don't even bother showing a map. It's not like we live in New Hampshire or Rhode Island. Our state is pretty darn noticeable. Last week, I had a girl totally perplexed as to why our city's name wasn't a choice in a pull down menu for email. I explained that it was asking for country. So she said the name of our city again and then our state. She asked two more times before finally getting to USA.
I always enjoy helping with homework. Lots of times I have a handful of kids working on same or similar projects. Lately it's been Black History Month biographies (yes, in March), the solar system, poetry, summarizing current event newspaper articles, and country studies. Good ol librarian work. Yes indeedy I like it.
And then there are those kids who insist that they have to do a biography on Bow Wow or B2K or -honest to god- Lizzie McGuire (a cartoon). And it's really important that this student has lots and lots and lots of pictures. "Writing" is copying random information from the page and pasting it into Word. It's exhausting. Last week I got a little steamed when a kid chose to do a bio of a celebrity and not someone who deserves study. I turned into that bitchy judgmental librarian I hoped not to be by saying stuff like, "Research someone who actually made an impact on our world and a contribution to society!" I just got blank stares in return.
But the real glimpse into my students' education is when 12 year olds don't know the difference between city, county, state, and country. Kids think big cities like Dallas or LA are states. And don't even bother showing a map. It's not like we live in New Hampshire or Rhode Island. Our state is pretty darn noticeable. Last week, I had a girl totally perplexed as to why our city's name wasn't a choice in a pull down menu for email. I explained that it was asking for country. So she said the name of our city again and then our state. She asked two more times before finally getting to USA.
