Jumbo Crayons

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I was in elementary school from 1975-1981, and it was pretty much a nightmare the whole way. I learned to read before starting public school, and I can remember being bored to tears in the first grade as everyone else learned to read...agonizingly slowly...reading out loud with their fingers on the paper. Meanwhile, I was reading at a fifth-grade level and the only paddling I can remember ever getting in school was in the first grade, for reading ahead (not paying attention in class).

Sounds an awful lot like my elementary school years. I abso-freakin'-lutely hated Reading class because it was an hour of sheer boredom. I read at a higher level than most of my classmates so I just couldn't stay at the same pace as them.

And of course this got me in trouble. "Irv, follow along with the class!" The most fun I had was in Odyssey of the Mind and in the gifted classes in sixth grade.

There was also the time when I was in kindergarten or first grade and the teachers for that grade called my mom to a meeting to discuss my reading habits.
Only none of my reading habits were discussed during the meeting. It was all "Put little Irv on ritalin. He's driving us all nuts!"

Oh, and we did have the SRA'a in 4th grade, but the only students who ever did them were the advanced students such as myself.

[Noelegy]

Sounds like the problems I had last year with my Daughters English Teacher. SHe would mark points off because my Daughter was too creative when given a creative writing assignment

One of the lousy teachers in memory was my junior/senior year English teacher. I got 5 points counted off an essay once because I described something as "cornflower blue," and she said there was no such color. My English teacher mom, who actually possessed a vocabulary worthy of her profession, was appalled.

[Noelegy]

And of course this got me in trouble. "Irv, follow along with the class!" The most fun I had was in Odyssey of the Mind and in the gifted classes in sixth grade.

You were in OM?!? Coolness! Me too, but only two years (maze problem, both times); in my rinky-dink little Texas school, we had a hard time getting enough interested people. Wasn't it pissy of the Olympic folks to make them stop calling it "Olympics of the Mind"?

[CurlyLocks]

Noelegy, I remember cornflower blue - it was in the 64 box of Crayola crayons.

[iradney]

Heh, I was a speed reader. And in my elementry school, we had one period a day of reading. I was reading at about grade 12 level in grade 6, so the little "Kiddy" books with the big type were no challenge for me. I was going through 2 a period (30 minutes). Of course, my teacher didn't believe that I was actually reading the books. I don't understand why, we didn't get credit for it or anything. So he would pick two books out, read them, and then at the next reading period give them to me to read and then quiz me.
Of course, when my parents found out, they went to the headmaster and ripped the teacher a new one. *loves her parents*

[Rapscallion]

Noelegy, I remember cornflower blue - it was in the 64 box of Crayola crayons.

Remind me, would you? What did that one taste like?

Rapscallion

[Banrion]

When I was in 1st grade we had a reading period. I got in trouble for bringing in chapter books like Babysitters Club instead of kiddy books. Both of my g'mas were teachers and I started reading when I was 3. Kiddy books were way below my level at that point.

[Seshat]

teachers do not have time to allow students to fully master a subject because they are having to race on to the next (often developmentally inappropriate) skill that the student MUST pass on the state exam. So the kids need to have the extra practice at home and outside of school or they'll never really learn such things as multiplication or spelling.

On the other hand, with an involved family you can do the learning without necessarily the formal homework. I know the teachers can't assume an involved family, but where there is one, surely the formal homework doesn't matter as much?

Does it matter if a child does yet another set of basic math problems (that he has already mastered) if instead he's out in the garden with his aunt observing pollination for himself, and being guided into trying to figure out the parts of the flower and how pollination actually works?

(If he's actually having trouble with the math, then yes, auntie should be sitting down with him and helping him figure it out with blocks or number lines or venn diagrams or whatever works. But if he's not having trouble, he's better off in the garden!)

[Seshat]

When I was in 1st grade we had a reading period. I got in trouble for bringing in chapter books like Babysitters Club instead of kiddy books.

My grade 1 teacher was great, apparently. She believed my mother (the only teacher who did before meeting me!), and reading time was spent with me out in the hall reading my free choice of library books rather than inside trying to piece out 'See Spot run'.

Mum tells the story of her asking me to come in, after one of those sessions. "Would you like to come inside now?" "No thank you, Mrs (whoever). I'm happy here."

Apparently I was perfectly polite about it.

[NightAngel]

Too creative? How in the hell can you be to creative on a creative writing assignment?

Well...

Once in Middle School we were assigned to pick a fairy tale and rewrite it for modern day. I picked Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Snow White was a rich girl (princess) who ran away from home and got lost in the city (Urban Forest/Jungle). The Seven Dwarves were actually a street gang she fell in with. She became a prostitute and Dopey was her crack dealer.

My Mom thought it was great, creative and quite attune with modern day.

My teacher thought it was inappropriate and gave me an F.

[Banrion]

Well...

Once in Middle School we were assigned to pick a fairy tale and rewrite it for modern day. SNIP
My Mom thought it was great, creative and quite attune with modern day.

My teacher thought it was inappropriate and gave me an F.

When I was a freshman in high school, we were working on a persuasive writing assignment. The teacher told us to "Choose a controversial topic, and write a persuasive argument"

I chose to write about the legalization of marijuana. Paper was great, had more than 20 reliable and reputable sources to back up my facts and statistics. I exceeded the page minimum.

I was told that the paper was unacceptable, and I would have to write a new paper if I wanted to get credit for the assignment.

Took the written assignment from the teacher to the school board as well as the paper I had written, and she was overruled. I got an A on the assignment, and a stern talking to about crossing certain lines in school.

It was probably in my favor that I was a straight A student who had not even had so much as a detention on my record. I imagine things could have gone very differently if I had been the school stoner.

[protege]

I learned to read before starting public school, and I can remember being bored to tears in the first grade as everyone else learned to read...agonizingly slowly...reading out loud with their fingers on the paper.

Ugh. Reading class. Yawn. I still can't figure out why it was necessary to sit through 8 years of that crap. I already knew how to read (taught myself, according to my parents), so most times I was pretty bored. Towards the end of elementary school, I was tired of it. 8th grade, the teacher decided to teach us to "speed read." Again, I was bored--I simply grew tired of waiting for words to appear on the screen! (She would project the text of whatever we were reading onto a movie screen...one word at a time.) Same teacher also taught "debate" class. Since it wasn't graded at all, many of us didnt' care and spent the class either sleeping or reading magazines. At one point she actually tried to get me on the "team." I was having none of that, and declined. If I wasn't getting credit, why bother?

I also remember getting chewed out in computer class a few times, simply because I had some interesting solutions to the problems. One involved putting in a subroutine. Teacher didn't like that, since we hadn't gone over those yet. As a result, she actually took off points. That, and she didn't like another assignment caused me to lose interest in the class. IIRC, we were supposed to write a program that would generate 3-lette codes, with inputs to guess the codes. I'd written a similar program with numbers that would do the same thing. When asked if I could tweak the code, she flipped. At that point, I no longer cared...and spent my time playing Sim City. Strangely, I got an A on the final

[RecoveringKinkoid]

"Does it matter if a child does yet another set of basic math problems (that he has already mastered) if instead he's out in the garden with his aunt observing pollination for himself, and being guided into trying to figure out the parts of the flower and how pollination actually works?"

My point exactly! While I was busily not doing homework, I was out learning about botany by lugging fieldguides through the fields and woods. I was learning about contellations, reading classic literature, reading National Geographic. My parents had a huge series of those Time Life science books, one set on straight science, and the other on nature. I read them all cover to cover, as I did the second hand reading textbooks my mother was always finding and bringing home. I did scientific experiments on things like plant growth, mold, etc. I built an in-tune working xylophone with beer bottles. I learned how to make cob bricks and built things out of them that lasted for years. I built a working barometer out of jars and balloons. I read my father's artbooks cover to cover and learned all about art.

I could walk in the woods and find snacks along the way. I knew where not to step (pine forests have dangerous holes in them). I knew where the springs and animal lairs were. I knew where the poison ivy and wasps nests were. I knew the history of the area from talking to the old folks.

All this I did outside of school. This is the sort of stuff I did for fun.

Once I learned to read, school was my biggest obstacle to learning.

[protege]

Once I learned to read, school was my biggest obstacle to learning.

You had that feeling too? I thought it was just me But seriously, I felt rather bored at school...simply because I'd already learned the material on my own, or too much time was spent on things I didn't care about.

For example, I've been interested in sports cars from an early age. My mother blames my father for that! When I was in preschool, he built a VW-based kit car. Every night after dinner, he and I would head into the garage to work on it. Even though I was only 2 or 3 then, I got quite an education. Did you know the difference between coil and leaf springs, or know what most of the tools in the garage were at that age?

Things didn't stop there--my home library consists of mainly automotive, or train-related books. I have most of the MG books, as well as all the Penn Central ones.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

"You had that feeling too? I thought it was just me But seriously, I felt rather bored at school...simply because I'd already learned the material on my own, or too much time was spent on things I didn't care about."

Yes! Exactly!

I really, really wanted to learn to read and write. Got all that down in the first grade with no trouble. After that, out of my mind with boredom.