Yesterday I subbed for an aide at
one of the elementary schools. There are at least two kindergartners in her
class who have a hard time following or understanding directions. She had me sit at a table near the back of
the class and sent the two directionally challenged students to sit with me to
work on the paper.
The
directions were simple, really: draw a picture of a pumpkin and write the word
"pumpkin" as best as you can.
Don't ask how to spell it. Just
do your best at sounding it out - which was the entire point of the exercise. The
little girl who sat by me understood what was expected of her. She whipped out a list of words and copied the
words pumpkin and costume. She drew
three amazing pumpkins and turned her paper over. The boy was much more interested in drawing
than spelling. I asked him how pumpkin
started. He made the "p" sound
and I asked him what that looked like.
He drew a series of backward Ps but no other letters to make
pumpkin. He also put a "W" for
wagon - but no other letters.
When the instructor came to stamp the
papers, she asked to look at the work before she could stamp each paper. I don't know why the little girl wouldn't
show her, but she seemed to be keeping it a secret. Both her teacher and I said that her paper
wouldn't get stamped unless she showed her work. She just smiled and kept it hidden. I told her that the boy had attempted with
making a letter "p" several times.
He received a stamp, but the little girl did not.
Before I left, the girl took her
paper to show her teacher, but she still did not get a stamp. The instructor had told her that she had
missed her opportunity and that it was too late to receive a stamp for her
work. The girl cried because she was not
able to manipulate the instructor into allowing her to have a stamp
anyway. She needs to learn to mind.
Minding or understanding the instructor applies to more than just kindergarten. As I have mentioned
countless times before, the online school provides lectures once a week. In order to know if the students are
attending the lectures or watching the recorded sessions, a recent incentive
has been created for some classes. It is
called a "Live Lecture Quiz" in which the student will give two
explanations of things found within the lecture. It's worth an additional 20 points.
I personally need the lectures for
structure so that I may know exactly what is expected with the assignments,
assessments and occasionally the discussion.
But there are evidently several class members who choose to ignore the
lecture or misfollow the directions - which is a sad thing really. So many mistakes could be avoided if taking
the time to follow the directions.
Danny and I have both given bogus
quizzes to our students to see how well they are paying attention. Even with my explaining to "Please read and
FOLLOW the directions",
I
still get students who mess it up. I
remember being one of those students - fooled more than once - which is sad to
admit.
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