Tales Of A Fourth Grade Something

I don't remember the fourth grade.

And here I am teaching it.

Actually, I do remember being in fourth grade, but I have no recollection of what subjects were covered.

Thankfully, I have a curriculum to guide me as a teacher. Without it, I'd probably overwhelm my son with polynomials and comparative economics. The curriculum keeps us on track to build a solid foundation of knowledge before moving on to the next level. Step by step, I always tell him.

Leave it to me to jump ten steps ahead the first time the curriculum gets a little vague.

A month ago my son started learning about writing reports. He'd actually been introduced to the subject last year, and wrote a simple report on toads. This year, however, he was expected to do more. Multiple sources, library research, note taking, topic sentences. Easy, right?

Our curriculum materials only talked about the process of writing, not the depth and length of the report. It was up to me to help him limit the scope of his subject.

He wanted to write about something he enjoyed, so he picked magic. That's a big subject, so I told him to narrow it down. He then decided to write about "Magicians Through History." This is where I was supposed to remember being in fourth grade, just starting out in the wonderful world of report writing. Instead of having him narrow that subject further, I simply told him it sounded like a good thing to write about. Which it did, if you're writing a book.

It turned out to be like a three-week trip to the dentist's office. My son read three books on magicians, took a huge amount of notes, made an outline, and then sat down to write the report only to discover that he was drowning in facts and figures.

But still I encouraged him, because it all looked fine to a guy who couldn't remember that fourth graders aren't quite ready to write a dissertation on the evolution of magic from the high priests of Ancient Egypt to the special effects wizards of the TV age.

This is the point in my post where I cut a bunch of stuff out, because that's exactly what my son had to do after I came to my senses and suddenly remembered Mrs. Robinson, my fourth-grade teacher, who gave me an assignment to write a report about Thomas Jefferson. It didn't take long for me to feel completely overwhelmed with the subject and give up. I never did finish that report, despite many missed recesses and parent-teacher conferences. The experience soured me on writing for several years until a very helpful seventh-grade English teacher put my head back on straight.

I didn't want my son to get beat down by a pencil and paper, so toward the end we threw out half of his note cards and simplified things immensely. We got back on track, and I think he actually enjoyed the process of putting together a research report. I told him he'd better like it, because there are several hundred more in his future.

His paper turned out well. Six pages, handwritten. He learned a lot from the experience, and it will be another solid brick in his learning foundation. I won't repeat my mistake of outpacing his learning level, so the next project should go more smoothly.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a report on Thomas Jefferson to finish.