These past months, I have devoted much of my classroom to solid grammar study and essay writing (in preparation for these papers). To ensure enjoyment of learning, I created multiple activities that were interactive and fun. The kids excelled in these activities and I had little doubt that their papers would be anything less than amazing. Boy, was I wrong!
Fragments, misspelled words, mind boggling sentence insertations, and overall poor grammar consume each of these papers. It's as if I'm having a nightmare and yet, there's no getting out of it because it's reality. The deeper I read into these papers, I begin to doubt my skills as a teacher. Questions surge my brain: Did I not spend enough time on things? Did I miss drastic mistakes on a regular basis? Are these kids cheating with the help of their parents or friend?
So far, I don't have an answer to these questions, although my intuition says no to all of them. After sharing my frustration and concern to my fellow Grade 6 teacher, she spoke of her recognition of this problem. Rosma is genuine and level-headed enough to tell me the truth. She assured me that this had nothing to do with my teaching, instead she helped me realize that this is their first HUGE writing project and it is intimidating and terrifying to most.
After she told me this, I tried to think back to when I first had to write an extensive essay of that magnitude. I probed my brain for quite a while before realizing that I hadn't done something like this until I arrived at college. My goodness, I can see how they are fearful and straying from their learned lessons. I'd probably cry if I had to do something similar to this in Grade 6.
There is still some traces of doubt in my mind, but I trying to replace it with positive thinking and encouragement to my students. I truly hope that they begin to apply their skills back into their next draft.
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