Yesterday one of my students had some gold coins with mysterious markings on them, and I asked him where they came from. I don’t know, he said. I told him they looked like something you’d find in a pirate’s chest.
He said, “I have a shirt that says, ‘Pirates took my homework’. And that’s kind of impossible because pirates only took things of value.”
A clever commentary on homework. Now I wonder what kind of homework would a pirate want? Mostly, it has a low exchange value.
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I couldn’t agree more.
Pirate Homework:
lots of work on those “r” controlled vowels;
for Open Court schools, the sound/spelling pattern for the armadillo card
cooperative projects appropriating from others
Hints an’ tips: If it be helpin’, start yer sentence wi’ a “Arr, me hearty,” in a deep, throaty voice — ye’ll find that the rest be comin’ much easier.
We are using piracy as a backdrop for teaching research skills and of course celebrated for an entire week “Talk Like a Pirate Day” (Sept 19). We have different kids each day—by the end of the week my pirate speak had turned into a bad Irish brogue. My two new favorite pirate words? Cacklefart (an egg, of course) and salmagundi. The young kiddos just thought “poop deck” was the funniest thing they’d ever heard! Also thought the word was arghhh—but that’s what Charlie Brown says when he misses the football—arrrr is the correct word.
Research skills and piracy…Aye, matey, that’s good.
As a high school student, I often challenged my teachers and parents to give me one good reason (to me) that I should do my homework if I already understand the given concept. In my view, they never could. Grades weren’t good enough, and neither was entrance to college. This, of course, was the view through the lens of a teenager, which we all know is incredibly skewed.
Ironically, I’m still challenging teachers to do the same thing as an adult. Give the kids a good reason, I say, and grades and entrance to college aren’t good reasons.
I had a homework scheme several years ago designed to keep everyone happy. Some parents want homework. Some don’t. Some want more. Some want different homework than what we assign. So I made homework voluntary and sent home a reporting form with suggestions of things to do. And nobody did it.
I even offered ice cream on Friday for kids who turned in the form, and it didn’t cost me anything after a couple of weeks. Grades, or ice cream, it wasn’t worth it to anyone that year.
And I get nothing out of it, except more papers to grade.
Not to add to your pillagin’ and plunderin’ list, but I’ve tagged you for Great Educational Podcast Meme- feel free to participate IF and when you have the time…. just don’t make me walk the plank!
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