Comments on: I am not a Poster Parent

By: Jessica

Jessica — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 14:06:40 +0000

Beckie – I will be sending my first child to school in the fall, and I am dreading the day she brings home a word search. As a former teacher, I feel very strongly that there is ABSOLUTELY NO VALUE in word searches! I don’t know why they are still around. Maybe I could understand if it was extra credit or “for fun.” Why not just give the kids a map of the United States and have them label the states. They would be practicing their map-reading and geography skills as well as their spelling. Sigh…

By: Sarah @ Clover Lane

Sarah @ Clover Lane — Mon, 17 May 2010 01:26:50 +0000

I helped my oldest child with most of his projects…gave him creative ideas, sometimes overzealously suggested scrapbook paper backgrounds on tri-fold boards to make the information pop. I also helped him with his homework, reminded him of deadlines constantly, and studied with him for tests.
It worked out perfect….until 7th grade. Until he became the oldest of 5 and there was NO way I could manage his school work and projects without seriously neglecting 4 younger siblings. Until I realized that the teacher’s had NO idea how much this child was not learning because of comprehension difficulties. Until I realized that by stepping in I was hurting SO much more than helping.
We went cold turkey.
It took a year of really hard lessons and lots of poor grades, and mucho ZIPPING it. And some major dough shelled out for tutoring.
Not fun.
I learned my lesson though. I don’t open back packs…even for my kindergartener. I hardly ever ever issue reminders. I usually answer “you can figure it out I bet” if I get a question about homework…and they almost always do.
I find that kids need to establish that gut feeling of “oh crap”. Some children naturally come by “oh crap”…my daughter being one of them. Others need to have “oh crap” incidents 10 times over before they get “oh crap” is not fun.
My 4th grader just did a report and presentation on a historical figure. Boy, it could have been prettier. And more comprehensive, and detailed. We’ll see how it turns out…he might decide that compared to some of his classmates, he might use more critical thinking and some of his awesome design skills. Or, because he’s a boy, he might decide he was happy with the work he did, and spend most of the time he should have been spending on the project outside playing lacrosse with his brother.
Either way: He owns it.
Awesome post! As usual.

By: April

April — Sun, 16 May 2010 13:50:04 +0000

Hello Gretchen,

Were you able to interview parents for this post? I am a parent who helped my son with a poster recently, and here are a few reasons why:

It was a fun project for me and my son to do together.
I bought the supplies and asked him how we could use them. Once he shared his ideas,I shared mine (teamwork). If he didn’t agree with my ideas, that was Okay. At least he had another viewpoint. After he got the project rolling, many ideas came to him. I was proud that he was able to take control of the project and make it a creation of his own.

Also, I was able to instruct him on the possibilities of poster design that are not taught in the school. The project gave me the opportunity to teach my son design and presentation that he will use in his future career.

Furthermore,I was very proud that my son took my advice seriously and that he was able to stand up in front of the class with confidence. This is the beginning stage of taking leadership.

On the next project, I will ask him what he remembered about this one, and how he could improve those ideas for the new project.

I wanted him to realize that there was more to making a poster than printing pictures from online and pasting them to the poster board.

Finally, not all parents (do) projects for their child. First, some parents do what parents are supposed to do; they guide their children through an important aspect of education: “critical thinking.” Secondly, some parents guide their child to take that “critical thinking” and put it into action.

My son was successful in many ways because of this project. And I will continue to incorporate real-world education within his public education.

I do hope that next time parents are generalized, interviews will be included.

Thank you,
April Smith

By: Gretchen White

Gretchen White — Wed, 12 May 2010 17:36:35 +0000

Laura, that is hilarious! Her trap is far more clever than anything with pulleys, by far.

By: Laura aka LaLaGirl

Laura aka LaLaGirl — Wed, 12 May 2010 05:16:46 +0000

Ha – I saw that last year in kindergarten when my twins had to make leprechaun traps for St. Patrick’s Day. Standing in line that morning, I was STUNNED to see so many kids carrying absolute engineering marvels into class. Stuff with PULLEYS. What do kindergarteners know about pulleys? Meanwhile, my daughter decided to just TRICK the leprechauns into entering her trap with a sign that said, “This is not a trap.”

By: Charlotte

Charlotte — Wed, 12 May 2010 02:05:47 +0000

I agree!! Adam may only be in Kindergarten, but I already tell him that “I’m not in school , he is.” He had 1 poster project this year. J helped him with it and allowed him to figure out where to put everything. I must admit that had I been overseeing I would had felt the need to “teach” him how a poster project “should” look.

By: Amy

Amy — Wed, 12 May 2010 01:50:53 +0000

Funny. I saw that for the first time this year with the “winter dioramas.” J’s not really into that sort of thing, so hers consisted of some cotton balls, some cut out green triangles. Standing in line the day they were due, I saw some impressive art probably NOT created by the kids– delicate paper birds suspended by special wire, incredibly detailed miniature snow villages, ski hills, ski lifts, it was impressive. I can see helping your kid if they have a vision and can’t quite manage something technical, like the whole punch, but these seemed to go beyond that. J saw them too. She was impressed. Maybe next time she’ll try harder, or maybe she won’t, that’s her choice to make. I failed dioramas too, and I’m fine. To this day when someone says they need someone to make a poster my heart beats fast and my palms sweat. It’s not my thing. Maybe it won’t be hers either.

On the other hand, if she’s struggling at math, I definitely would help her, so I can see it both ways. I wouldn’t do the homework for her, but I would try to help her learn it. If she can’t, it’s probably important to send it back incomplete so the teacher knows she is struggling and/or not interested.

By: beckie

beckie — Wed, 12 May 2010 00:58:18 +0000

oh yeah. this hit close to home. my daughter does her own projects and they are less than perfect, BUT i am comforted that she will learn and improve at her own speed. but tonight…yes, tonight…i did some of her social studies homework. *blush* it was actually not very meaningful homework. she has always had a tough time with word searches. this was the granddaddy of all word searches. it was the 50 states. and it was taking her a looonnnng time. she worked on it for at least an hour, looking strained and frustrated (this after already doing a half hour of language homework). i sat down to help. we worked together for at least 20 more minutes. finally i sent her away and finished myself. i know. bad bad mom. but i knew that she needed the half hour of free time that she got before shower and bedtime. and who cares about a stupid word search. *sigh* that’s my story and i’m stickin’ to it!

By: Gem

Gem — Tue, 11 May 2010 20:48:05 +0000

Oh, I really really really really struggle with this!!! Mostly because it’s my fault they’re behind because I procrastinated helping them get the stuff together or I had a million things we had to go do and they didn’t have time after school or, or, or . . . Then we’re rushing to get it done and I’ll just help a little so it doesn’t look SO rushed & bad. Sigh.

Yes, this is how I did mine in the 4th grade too. By myself.

By: Gretchen White

Gretchen White — Tue, 11 May 2010 20:39:31 +0000

See, Gretchen!? Somebody didn’t do her homework! I blame my mother.

We’ll let it stand as an example of what happens when kids don’t pay attention in school.