An unorthadox story/essay... good or bad??

[Ibbygirl]

What do ya'll think?? My daughter's LA curriculum had an assignment where she had to write two short story/essay type papers on two different topics. One was on what it would be like to be a Roman soldier and the other was fleshing out one of the characters in one of the books we read together and telling a story about him. She was really digging in her heels on this assignment and kept repeatedly telling me that she couldn't think of anything to write. I put up some questions on the dry erase board to get her thoughts going. Like, what did he look like? Was he tall or short? etc etc. I wanted to let her develop a picture in her mind of what that person would look like to (hopefully) help her develop a story about him. She continued to sigh and have a generally negative attitude towards the assignment so I added that she could draw some pictures also to help tell her story if she wanted to, BUT that she had to still write a story.

 

Well, with that she was more eager to start. She picked up her pen and paper and after a few giggles and about a half an hour, she handed her work to me. Both writing assignments were written like a comic book/graphic novel type of style. She did tell a story and answered the question, but she added alot of humor and things that were not a part of the original book at all.

 

My impression was that the work was very creative, although not exactly what I asked her to do. I wasn't sure then of how I felt about it and still am not exactly sure. On the one hand, she was enjoying the assignment and threw herself into it and she produced something entirely new. That I see as a plus. She also did some really good drawings and was very artistic about the entire thing which I also thing is very good. I know as homeschoolers we have the freedom to not do what everyone else is doing in PS and so she can be unorthadox and still be learning, but at what point does it go "too far"?? I mean at some point this kid is going to go off to college and I highly doubt that her professor would think so highly of a paper turned in that was full of comic strips. hehe

 

To be fair, she is only 11 years old and still a ways off from college, but still, at some point she needs to produce some serious papers. So what do you all think? Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Should I accept her work as creative writing or even art and still require her to do a proper essay or just let it go altogether? I like that she is so creative and I want to encourage her in that, but I also think that I would be doing her a disservice if I didn't require her to turn in proper essays and stories. Should I let her just have fun with is while she is young? At what age/point should I be adamantly requiring her to turn in serious papers?

What do you ladies/gents think??

 

Thank you to all who reply. :)

Edited May 15, 2009 by Ibbygirl

[Jean in Newcastle]

Welcome to the middle school mind.:001_huh: My ds11 would have done something exactly like your dd - and he would have been so proud of himself!

 

I notice that you said that the assignment was to write a story about the Roman soldier. Well, it sounds like she did just that - albeit in a very modern format! Personally, I would let it go for this assignment.

 

But for the next assignment I would specify exactly the format in which you want it written. And I would purposely let her have some lee-way on occasion. Yes, you need to learn how to write an essay by college, but that doesn't mean you have to write one every single time.

[Ibbygirl]

Welcome to the middle school mind.:001_huh: My ds11 would have done something exactly like your dd - and he would have been so proud of himself!

 

I notice that you said that the assignment was to write a story about the Roman soldier. Well, it sounds like she did just that - albeit in a very modern format! Personally, I would let it go for this assignment.

 

But for the next assignment I would specify exactly the format in which you want it written. And I would purposely let her have some lee-way on occasion. Yes, you need to learn how to write an essay by college, but that doesn't mean you have to write one every single time.

 

:) The drawings she did of the Roman soldiers were really really cute. I wish you could see them. hehe I couldn't surpress a smile when she showed me her work, but I felt uneasy about accepting it that way also since it wasn't what I asked her to do. I thank you for your comments Jean. They put my mind more at ease. I was thinking along similar lines. Just let this one go, and allow her to have freedom on some assignments but also requiring her to produce some proper papers as well. Sigh, I'll be glad when we wrap this year up. I think part of her digging her heels in also is that she is just so ready for summer vacation. I am too! hehe :) ;)

[Ibbygirl]

edit: My dd has spent virutally all of her independent time today drawing more comics with the Roman soldier. hehee I guess she liked the assignment after all.:tongue_smilie:

[joannqn]

I would allow both. My daughter would treat the assignment the same way yours did initially. There would be lots of complaints about not knowing what to write. In the end, I would get a VERY short story (as in a few sentences).

 

This is why I like IEW and see it being worth the money. It teaches how to write a formal, academic essay (with lessons on using a variety of sources and lessons using what you know). It also has VERY specific requirements for each paper, complete with a checklist of the required elements. The checklist helps the student include everything that is required and helps the parent know how to grade the paper.

 

I then allow the creative work to be either creative writing, art, or a project to enrich the original studies.

 

Perhaps on some chapters/topics, you could assign a serious paper with specific requirements and allow creative projects on other chapters/topics.

[Ibbygirl]

I would allow both. My daughter would treat the assignment the same way yours did initially. There would be lots of complaints about not knowing what to write. In the end, I would get a VERY short story (as in a few sentences).

 

This is why I like IEW and see it being worth the money. It teaches how to write a formal, academic essay (with lessons on using a variety of sources and lessons using what you know). It also has VERY specific requirements for each paper, complete with a checklist of the required elements. The checklist helps the student include everything that is required and helps the parent know how to grade the paper.

 

I then allow the creative work to be either creative writing, art, or a project to enrich the original studies.

 

Perhaps on some chapters/topics, you could assign a serious paper with specific requirements and allow creative projects on other chapters/topics.

 

 

Thank you kindly for your excellent advice. I'll have to look into IEW. I haven't ever used it, but I'm always on the look out for good LA curricula. I never seem to find a perfect fit.

[slug hollow]

This reminds me of a paper I did in (public) high school. I had an excellent English teacher who could be a stickler. The assignment was to write about a famous quote. I wrote a paragraph or two about quotes becoming famous because they sum up their subject succinctly and don't need elaboration. Then I chose a song lyric as my quote - something to the effect of wasting time with children - and wrote a poem about my feelings on being in school.

I got an F on the paper. Along with a note from the teacher that showed she appreciated my work but that it didn't fulfill the assignment. I figured that was fair enough.

 

Funny, thinking back on the quote I see it very differently now.

 

I think your daughter did complete the assignment, especially because you did say she could add pictures. I would compliment her on it then plan a paper that she would have to follow the traditional format. Perhaps have her choose the format and have it approved by you before working on the paper?

[fivetails]

she was enjoying the assignment and threw herself into it and she produced something entirely new.

 

 

 

:hurray: :hurray:

 

She's 11. There's PLENTY of time ahead for the writing of formal essays and all that. ;)

 

(Just my penny.)

[Ibbygirl]

I'm pretty laid back with our school, and I think it's a good thing to be excited about learning and being creative, I guess I was just wondering if she's getting too old for this type of thing. Thank you to everyone for your suggestions and confirmations. :) I greatly appreciate it. On the whole I'm pretty confident when it comes to homeschooling, but I don't know, I guess I just started to doubt if I was doing the right thing by allowing it. :) Thanks again ladies. :grouphug:

[Pamela H in Texas]

When I was in high school, there was this very witty gifted girl who did ALL her essays like that. After almost every test, our world history teacher would read her answers to the class. She always got the answer information in there, but in the most unique and interesting ways. Often times, her method was completely outside the box and completely mesmerized the class. I wish I could describe it better. It was kinda like one of those pictures with things to find within the picture (like these ones: http://www.smart-kit.com/scategory/brain-teasers/hidden-object-puzzles/ ). The answer was there, but the story was what you noticed. You really had to TRY to find each part of the answer as it was so well hidden. It really was art. She always got top marks.

 

I don't think it is appropriate to ALWAYS do that, but I think it's fine once in awhile unless they are told not to.

Edited May 15, 2009 by 2J5M9K

[Sara R]

My opinion is that this is fine, especially because it sounds like the assignment was a creative assignment. It sounds like she was supposed to write a story, not an essay. If that's the case, and the student throws more creativity into the final product, that's even better, isn't it?