14 June 2010

Complaints

I received this email from a parent. I could provide multiple pages of commentary, but I think she speaks adequately for herself. (I have even preserved the original spelling and punctuation.)

"you and I need to talk [my daughter] worked to hard on a project that was objective... meaning your opinionto receive an 70% She has expressed your dislike for her now Im beginning to wonder if she is right. If you do not contact me I will have no problem escalating this complaint."

09 June 2010

Final Projects

The last assignment of the year was a decade project. The kids had to make a poster, write an essay, and present their decade to the class. Most of the kids did an excellent job. One student even made a comparison between Kennedy's use of television in the 1960 election and Obama's use of online social networking in the 2008 election. While such magical moments make a teacher extremely proud, the non teaching community doesn't seem to find much entertainment in them. Some of the presentations didn't really make me proud, but they did make me laugh a little bit.

Project on the 1920s:
"Alcohol was illegal in the 1920s, so nothing interesting happened."

Project on the 1940s:
"WWI was in the 1940s. It was where the United States fought against the Soviet Union and dropped the atomic bomb on them to prove that we didn't like communism."

Project on the 1960s:
"Then there was Rosa Parks. She was important because....Well, I don't know, but she got in trouble for something."

I was a little dismayed that she didn't seem to know anything about Rosa Parks. It was just the icing on the cake that Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on the bus in 1955, and really had no place in a project on the 1960s.

Project on the 1970s:
"Ryan drew a picture of a turkey on my poster. I don't know why he did that because turkeys weren't invented in the 1970s. Turkeys are animals, so they can't be invented. Maybe they were discovered in the 70s though."

Project on the 1990s:
"I put a picture of September 11th on my poster because that was a big deal. Oh wait, that was in 2001. That's the wrong decade." Then he ripped the picture off his poster

Same project on the 1990s:
"Bill Clinton had to be impeached so that Bush could become president."