The New York Times has an interesting article about high school rigor today:
Kati Haycock, director of the Education Trust, another Washington-based group that advocates standard-setting, said that as she traveled around the country, she found many schools not offering challenging work.
“When you look at the assignments these kids get, it is just appalling,” she said. “A course may be labeled college-preparatory English. But if the kids get more than three-paragraph-long assignments, it is unusual. Or they’ll be asked to color a poster. We say ‘How about doing analysis?’ and they look at us like we are demented.”
“It's easy not to rebel. It's easy not to protest. The middling lives are so rich in comforts; the poorer lives so abundant in hardships. It's easier not to sing out. Yet history is littered with radicals of thought and deed; swimmers against the currents of their day, trying to keep their heads above the water; not drowning, but waving to others, if not to follow, then at least take notice of their struggle."—Warwick McFayden
Everyone is going to remember different things about the novels we have read. The point is to use those details that we remember to the best possible effect on the test. Looking over the notes for Grapes of Wrath I was reminded of this small detail.
At the beginning of the book, Tom (the son) talks about how his father would always wait to eat a pig, and by the time he was ready to butcher and eat it, the pig would have died of some disease. By contrast, Uncle John wouldn't save and would butcher a whole pig just because he had a sudden craving for pork. In a sense, both were insane in their own way, one waiting for a promise that would never be fulfilled, the other not having the patience to wait.
Easy stuff. 🙂
You can find notes on Catcher in the Rye, Huck Finn, and The Grapes of Wrath here :
If you are looking for the two alternatives to the open book prompt, you can download them right here .
