Posted on 06/11/2008 1:34:59 PM PDT by bs9021
Melancholy Serenades
by: Malcolm A. Kline, June 11, 2008
Education professionals think that they have come up with a way to get middle school students to share their life experiences in a way that is both therapeutic and instructive but the exercises they have concocted may prove to be intrusive at best. “In their writer’s notebook, students draw a horizontal line across the page,” Karen D. Wood writes in the May 2008 issue of Middle School Journal. “Above the line, they note the highlights of their lives; moments that are fond memories.”
“Below the line, they note the lowlights of their lives; noting events in their lives that have been difficult.” Those difficulties can be tragic indeed.
Wood writes about the real-life dramas that surfaced in a pilot program using their “multi-genre” approach. “More than one student wrote about the death of a grandmother, the most meaningful figure in their lives,” Wood relates. “Another student wrote about a brother who went to prison and how the weekly visits affected her and her family.”
“Still another student wrote about the terminal illness that eventually killed her father.” Such concerns used to be exclusively confided to family, friends and clergy.
Now they are all “teachable moments.” “Finally, students are encouraged to share their texts with peers before giving the text to the intended audience,” Wood reports. “During this powerful sharing time, students meet in small groups and listen to the words read by the author.”
Although the progenitors of this program hope that it will prove to be educational, as practiced in tryouts, the course seems designed more towards the expression of feelings than the transmission of knowledge...
(Excerpt) Read more at campusreportonline.net ...
Just another attack on maleness by our education big sister. Get impressionable young boys to emote first to their cooperative learning group and then to the class as a whole and you can channel male aggression into kindness and gentleness. Phooey!
My daughter had a writing assignment on Her Hero. She chose her Step-Brother who was serving with the 101 Field Artillery National Guard Bravo Co. in Baghdad over me...darn
;)
Middle-school students do not need to be taught navel-gazing. They do that naturally.
Reason #736 for homeschooling ...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.