Tag

I need a way to indicate that a post is going to be yet another riff on something I've already talked about and droned about and beat the dead horse about, so that people don't waste a lot of time thinking well, maybe I'll keep reading...it might get better. Oh, that should do it.

So: Studying. I realized, after my lengthy speech to my daughter, that talking to her about metalearning (I didn't use that phrase, but I did use that concept) and all is fine, but what did I actually want, and how would I ensure it, or at least make it more likely? Which, I think, is roughly the position that Barack's in, as he's having to turn high concept/big picture stuff into reality: Holy Hell, This Is Hard!

After thinking about it for a day, intermittently, I came to this conclusion: I want her to do better, by which I mean I want her average grade to be at or above 90, instead of 86 as it was, last time around. The how (good lord, even just writing it down here, I feel a little quiver of trepidation) to get there is not at all clear to me, but for starters: I want her to do three things.

First, I want her to study for an hour every day, without the laptop. Today, snow day, we told her we wanted her to turn off the laptop, and she said she was studying science on it; we said 'then do it outside', and she said that she would study something else. Not the result we wanted. So, first thing is, every day, for an hour. If it turns out that she had thirty minutes of studying anyway, fine, that counts as part of it. If she had more than an hour, ditto.

Second, at the end of each study period, however long it was, I want her to talk with me in some detail what she's studied. Oh, hell, that's going to be lots of fun. But the idea is two fold -- first, if she has to regurgitate it, she might remember it better because she thought about it a little longer; second, if she has to talk with me, she might think of things that didn't occur to her, first time around. I am not kidding, I am not looking forward to this. It so much feels like grade school.

Third, I want her to bring home tests and review them. We raised this point yesterday, and she insisted that she's not allowed to bring tests home. I sent a note to her core teachers, one of whom responded and said yes, it was true that they kept them there, but that was only so that the parents could see them when they came to the classroom (when, for god's sake?); she would tell my daughter that she could bring them home. No idea what the other teachers will say; they don't appear to be very communicative. I also don't know how I'll know if she did have a test, or has one coming up. Its the classic deal where the school doesn't tell you (oh, the teachers are way too busy to post any of this on their web site, yaaaaas), but somehow they assume that of course the child will tell you. This would be the child who knows that telling you is just about all downside, no upside.

So that's the plan. Comments, other than my god thats a lame plan, which I already know, greatly appreciated. I do know that aiming for grades rather than comprehension is not a good thing. And Shannon, thanks for that link; I did read it.