'Tis the season!

It's getting to be that time of year - yes, RESEARCH PAPER!

My juniors turn in their big papers tomorrow and I'm expecting about a third good ones, a third adequate ones, and a third "you have to be kidding me!" One girl told me that one of her classmates told her that he has ONE source - and that's a website!

I really, really dread this unit, even though I learn so much from the good papers. But it's the ones from the kids who don't really give a damn about learning the process and just throw something down on paper that proves NOTHING. What part of "come up with a thesis to support, find several sources that support it, choose information and either quote it, paraphrase it, or summarize it and CITE the information" do they not comprehend? I know I have said a couple of dozen times: "If I ask myself "How does he/she know this?" it needs to be cited."

It isn't stupidity. It isn't that I haven't tried to work with them. It isn't even mere laziness.

It's that they really don't know what it is to put maximum effort into something.

I know, I know, I'm sounding pretty grinchy. I have a lot of terrific students. But I would say that I have about ten that haven't a clue about what it means to truly be a student. All some of them care about is how many points something is worth and what they have to do to get the B or A (or sometimes a D!). I still have a couple of seniors who turn in ONE PARAGRAPH for a major theme that is supposed to be at least five and then are SO SURPRISED to get a 50 or 60 on it - a gift, if you ask me! And these are supposedly college-bound kids!

On the other end of the spectrum, we have kids (and parents) so focused on being the best that they give themselves ulcers. We had a student recently get a perfect score on one part of a standardized test (you know the one) and the parents berated that student for not doing so well on the other part. Another kid has been conditioned that only Ivy League acceptance will do for her. No wonder she has no fingernails!

So what are kids, parents, and teachers supposed to do about education? What is the correct approach? Whatever happened to LEARNING for its own sake, not for regurgitating on a statewide test with such high stakes that we have to bribe the kids with breakfast and other perks just to not blow it off?

We just had a tragic situation not far from here with a kid who brought home a bad report card and his parents (appropriately) told him he'd have to give up some of his extracurricular activities. The next day he brought a sawed-off shotgun to school and ended his own life. Of course, the media was all about the "pressures of achievement" and so forth. I repeat - his parents did not beat him or in any other way punish him - they just told him he needed to manage his time better and would have to curtail some out-of-school activities. Of course, there were undoubtedly other factors - some comments were made about being picked on - and, sadly, we will never know what was going on in his head. This terrible situation gives all of us pause - as teachers, we certainly don't want to give the grade that pushes a kid to such extremes.

I think I'll write an article "What high school teachers want to tell new parents" - and it would be to make their child find joy in learning. I want new parents, like my daughter and her husband, to know that they don't need flashcards and drills - they need to read to their children with joy on their faces and in their voices. They need to show their children new things and share the wonder of them. They need to challenge their children to THINK about things and discover what it feels like to be intellectually TIRED from thinking! They need to offer stimulation that isn't plugged into something!

I've taught the valedictorians - they are, of course, high achieving students. But some of them found little JOY in their learning - it was just a resume builder. On the other hand, I've had other students whose eyes just lit up upon discovering a little jewel in a story - even just the PERFECT word to put in their essay. What a wonderful experience it is to teach those kids!

Well, that's my rant for today. After tomorrow, I'm all Christmas, all the time!