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Friday, September 16, 2005
Taking Notes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Last night I was talking to my sister Julie, who has two kids in New Jersey public schools. I’ll call her daughter, who is in fifth grade, Kim and her son, who is in seventh grade, Andrew. Julie always has a few bones to pick with her kids’ teachers. I have to get all know-it-all on her seeing as I think I know all when it comes to education. Usually I tell her she’s too picky, that she should cut her kids’ teachers a break and be thankful her problems are so minor. (For example, Andrew, king of horseplay, once got in trouble for putting a used tissue on a classmate’s head…Julie found it absurd that the assistant principal called her about it.)
Last night’s complaint, however, struck me as legit.
Kim’s teacher told parents on Back-To-School night that she hands out copies of all her notes to her students. That way they don’t have to take notes themselves. She said many students have such poor handwriting that they can’t read their own notes when it comes time to study. Julie found this troubling. “What’s wrong with having kids copy off the board? Isn’t that how they learn?”
Well, Get Schooled readers, what do you think? Should fifth graders be responsible for taking their own notes? Is the teacher responding to a legitimate problem - kids not being able to write legibly? Is this a do or a don’t?
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