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Helping with English Homework
Mar. 30th, 2009 08:43 pmI'm sitting at the kitchen table helping MsNotaGoth do her preparation for her English SAC.
She will be assessed on an essay she writes in class time, under test conditions. But she already knows the topic AND she can take 2 A4 pages into the test with her.
I know it's ok. Everyone else is being assessed on the same basis. It's not cheating if everyone does it.
Her teacher has given her several articles written about the book they're studying. She also has a pro-forma for the writing the plan, which seems to reduce the process of writing an essay to filling out a form. She's also been given a running sheet for the book
If someone had given me a handout titled "how to write a text response" with the entire formula for how to write an HSC english essay, and another sheet summarising the whole book, I would have done much better than my 52/100 end of year result, and I wouldn't have had to spend as much time studying either.
I'm now a reasonable writer, I write technical reports that other people describe as readable and accessible. I understand the formula for them and I can crank the handle and out they come.
But I left school bewildered by the knowledge that my verbal abilities didn't match my ability to write an essay for English.
So unfair!
She will be assessed on an essay she writes in class time, under test conditions. But she already knows the topic AND she can take 2 A4 pages into the test with her.
I know it's ok. Everyone else is being assessed on the same basis. It's not cheating if everyone does it.
Her teacher has given her several articles written about the book they're studying. She also has a pro-forma for the writing the plan, which seems to reduce the process of writing an essay to filling out a form. She's also been given a running sheet for the book
If someone had given me a handout titled "how to write a text response" with the entire formula for how to write an HSC english essay, and another sheet summarising the whole book, I would have done much better than my 52/100 end of year result, and I wouldn't have had to spend as much time studying either.
I'm now a reasonable writer, I write technical reports that other people describe as readable and accessible. I understand the formula for them and I can crank the handle and out they come.
But I left school bewildered by the knowledge that my verbal abilities didn't match my ability to write an essay for English.
So unfair!
