One of my current favorite books is The Report Card written by Andrew Clements. Last year was the first time I had heard of this author after seeing several students reading his books. In the story the main character is a young girl named Nora. She plays and speaks with her very best friend in the world, Stephen, all the time. They are in the same class and have been throughout elementary school. As they are riding the bus home Stephen shares his report card with Nora and in return asks her if he could see hers. She finally relents and Stephen is quite surprised at her marks-all Cs and Ds. Once Nora is home she is reminded by her parents that she needs to bring her report card to dinner. She refuses to read her card which frustrates her parents. They look at it while she sleeps and are not only surprised but angry. They decide to speak with Nora's school. While they are meeting, Nora is in the school library with her favorite teacher the librarian Mrs. Bryne. She tells Nora that she knows Nora got those grades on purpose after reviewing her database information. She tells Nora she will keep her secret. In the meantime, Nora's parents and teachers decide to evaluate her for a learning disability and are absolutely confused with the results. Then, one of her teachers figures out Nora's secret that she got those grades on purpose. Even though her parents and teachers are angry, they decide to have Nora evaluated for GT. They all want her to leave to be in a GT program. In the meantime, Nora's peers boycott assessments and school work (anything that receives grades). Nora realizes she doesn't want to leave. She admits that she purposely received those grades as an experient while observing her best friend, Stephen, who struggled in school. She wanted to boost his self-esteem and succeeded in doing so. In the end, Nora decides she wants to stay with her peers. She likes her friends, she likes her school, she likes her teachers, she likes what she is doing in school, and (most importantly) Nora realizes that report cards and grades aren't really that important. I think this is a book that rings true today especially since we have to assess/assess/& assess our students and provides grade after grade. I've always questioned if they are that important. Are grades a true reflection of what we and our students have learned?
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Kelly-The Report Card by Andrew Clements
One of my current favorite books is The Report Card written by Andrew Clements. Last year was the first time I had heard of this author after seeing several students reading his books. In the story the main character is a young girl named Nora. She plays and speaks with her very best friend in the world, Stephen, all the time. They are in the same class and have been throughout elementary school. As they are riding the bus home Stephen shares his report card with Nora and in return asks her if he could see hers. She finally relents and Stephen is quite surprised at her marks-all Cs and Ds. Once Nora is home she is reminded by her parents that she needs to bring her report card to dinner. She refuses to read her card which frustrates her parents. They look at it while she sleeps and are not only surprised but angry. They decide to speak with Nora's school. While they are meeting, Nora is in the school library with her favorite teacher the librarian Mrs. Bryne. She tells Nora that she knows Nora got those grades on purpose after reviewing her database information. She tells Nora she will keep her secret. In the meantime, Nora's parents and teachers decide to evaluate her for a learning disability and are absolutely confused with the results. Then, one of her teachers figures out Nora's secret that she got those grades on purpose. Even though her parents and teachers are angry, they decide to have Nora evaluated for GT. They all want her to leave to be in a GT program. In the meantime, Nora's peers boycott assessments and school work (anything that receives grades). Nora realizes she doesn't want to leave. She admits that she purposely received those grades as an experient while observing her best friend, Stephen, who struggled in school. She wanted to boost his self-esteem and succeeded in doing so. In the end, Nora decides she wants to stay with her peers. She likes her friends, she likes her school, she likes her teachers, she likes what she is doing in school, and (most importantly) Nora realizes that report cards and grades aren't really that important. I think this is a book that rings true today especially since we have to assess/assess/& assess our students and provides grade after grade. I've always questioned if they are that important. Are grades a true reflection of what we and our students have learned?
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This book sounds wonderful, I have never heard of this title but I am excited to read it and share it with my students. I teach about specific concepts throughout the year to deepen students understanding of their world and to help them to understand Cesar Chavez and the grape boycott I teach a concept attainment lesson on boycotting and it sounds as though this book would provide a very simplified example of boycotting. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteWhat a relevant topic for us as teachers! The director at my school is constantly bringing up this topic--do grades reflect learning/mastery of standards. He will tell anyone who will listen that he didn't look at his daughter's report cards even one time last year (her senior year) because she got an A+ in French II(a class where he believes her to be a B or even C student) because she brought in food for bonus points, but she got an A- in Algebra I even though she earned A+es on every single test. Why? Because she didn't do the homework. She didn't want to do it because she already knew how to and thus it was boring and a waste of time for her, which was apparent by the fact that she aced ALL the exams!
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