English teachers -- WHY art assignments???

[Anonymous]

Totally right OP!
My kid got a poor grade for one of these English art posters and he did his best. He has difficulty writing and drawing and isn’t arty. She then told him his wasn’t as good as the ones with an intricate border or defined drawings. The assignment was 3 quotes and 4 drawings. He had all that. But some of the girls went above and beyond and that was justification. Like you, I said this isn’t an art class.
So pathetic to assign these and then grade on artistic talent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of you parents who say your kid can't draw well, I hate to break it to you, but they can't write very well either. If your kids got the grades they actually deserved on writing assignments, you'd complain about that as well.

Or my kid who can’t draw well has a disability that impacts their finger dexterity.

One of mine does too. It’s not in his 504 because it’s not generally an issue and it’s such a pain to go back and request it be edited to this dumb assignment. He has a no handwriting accommodation but he’s supposed to be able to draw???

My other kid just hates it and is terrible at it. She’s beyond frustrated that they’ve only read one book all semester and would be happy to write an essay instead. Or read another book and write an essay.

As a parent of a kid with serious OT issues, you are making a mistake by never requiring your child to do handwriting for assignments. Handwriting works in tandem with neural development. Typing just doesn't have the same results. And I am also saying this as a high school teacher who suffers through reading really bad handwriting.

I stupidly trusted MCPS when they repeatedly told me he didn’t need services and that a typing accommodation was just as good. We were doing a lot of therapy for other things. I think he’ll be fine in th end though — I work with a lot of genius lawyers who can’t hand write at all. And honestly I’ve retrained my own brain to be typing focused. I’m a left handed person and writing has always been mentally exhausting for me in a way that typing is not. I learned to speed type at age 11 and did very well academically. I never hand wrote an assignment after 8th grade and even in the 90s most of my college and law school exams were typed. I’ve seen the research you’re referencing and I don’t think it separated out people for whom hand writing is difficult, left handers, or neurodivergent people.

[Anonymous]

What do folks think when science classes assign a poster assignment that must be hand done

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why complains and not come up with a solution. My left handed kid is not good at cutting and doesn’t draw well at all even though he can print legibly.

When he has to do an art project in and English, science or history class he prints out a picture or illustration then taps it to a window where there is direct sunlight from the back. He holds up a blank piece of paper to outline the illustration.

Then I have bought him quality alcohol based markers. I bought him Copic brand when they go in sale. He watched some YouTube videos his to use them. They really do make any type of drawing you color in look 10 times better than cheap markers.

Impressive. Kudos to you and your kid. Most kids and parents prefer to just complain

It is really surprising how many parents expend a lot of effort for their kids not to do an assignment they don't like or don't do well. I thought I was being over the top buying my kid expensive markers, but it is interesting that so many parents figure out how to excuse their kids from work instead of figuring a way how their kid can do the assignment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why complains and not come up with a solution. My left handed kid is not good at cutting and doesn’t draw well at all even though he can print legibly.

When he has to do an art project in and English, science or history class he prints out a picture or illustration then taps it to a window where there is direct sunlight from the back. He holds up a blank piece of paper to outline the illustration.

Then I have bought him quality alcohol based markers. I bought him Copic brand when they go in sale. He watched some YouTube videos his to use them. They really do make any type of drawing you color in look 10 times better than cheap markers.

Impressive. Kudos to you and your kid. Most kids and parents prefer to just complain

It is really surprising how many parents expend a lot of effort for their kids not to do an assignment they don't like or don't do well. I thought I was being over the top buying my kid expensive markers, but it is interesting that so many parents figure out how to excuse their kids from work instead of figuring a way how their kid can do the assignment.

I think many parents would attend class with their child if they could - just to hover and make sure their kid does not feel the slightest bit of discomfort

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why complains and not come up with a solution. My left handed kid is not good at cutting and doesn’t draw well at all even though he can print legibly.

When he has to do an art project in and English, science or history class he prints out a picture or illustration then taps it to a window where there is direct sunlight from the back. He holds up a blank piece of paper to outline the illustration.

Then I have bought him quality alcohol based markers. I bought him Copic brand when they go in sale. He watched some YouTube videos his to use them. They really do make any type of drawing you color in look 10 times better than cheap markers.

Impressive. Kudos to you and your kid. Most kids and parents prefer to just complain

It is really surprising how many parents expend a lot of effort for their kids not to do an assignment they don't like or don't do well. I thought I was being over the top buying my kid expensive markers, but it is interesting that so many parents figure out how to excuse their kids from work instead of figuring a way how their kid can do the assignment.

I think many parents would attend class with their child if they could - just to hover and make sure their kid does not feel the slightest bit of discomfort

I started this thread and that’s really not me. I work full time and generally let my kids be. I guess I should have figured out the window tracking and fancy marker system! I just object to keen being graded on something that has no home to do with the class. Like I’d object if the Spanish teacher required them to write an essay on cell division and then graded them on their understanding of the science. For kids that struggle in a particular area, it’s really depressing and discouraging to have that area cross over and infect other subjects. I think some teachers mistakenly think these assignments are “fun” when for some kids they are absolute torture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why complains and not come up with a solution. My left handed kid is not good at cutting and doesn’t draw well at all even though he can print legibly.

When he has to do an art project in and English, science or history class he prints out a picture or illustration then taps it to a window where there is direct sunlight from the back. He holds up a blank piece of paper to outline the illustration.

Then I have bought him quality alcohol based markers. I bought him Copic brand when they go in sale. He watched some YouTube videos his to use them. They really do make any type of drawing you color in look 10 times better than cheap markers.

Impressive. Kudos to you and your kid. Most kids and parents prefer to just complain

It is really surprising how many parents expend a lot of effort for their kids not to do an assignment they don't like or don't do well. I thought I was being over the top buying my kid expensive markers, but it is interesting that so many parents figure out how to excuse their kids from work instead of figuring a way how their kid can do the assignment.

I think many parents would attend class with their child if they could - just to hover and make sure their kid does not feel the slightest bit of discomfort

I started this thread and that’s really not me. I work full time and generally let my kids be. I guess I should have figured out the window tracking and fancy marker system! I just object to keen being graded on something that has no home to do with the class. Like I’d object if the Spanish teacher required them to write an essay on cell division and then graded them on their understanding of the science. For kids that struggle in a particular area, it’s really depressing and discouraging to have that area cross over and infect other subjects. I think some teachers mistakenly think these assignments are “fun” when for some kids they are absolute torture.

I just asked my kid who has never liked any art project (that's why he figured out how to copy by holding the paper up to a window and shining light in the back). He laughed and said it is soooo easy now with AI. You can just keep putting in what type of illustrations you want for your poster into an AI image creator, and have the poster created for you. He says you just need to be really detailed with what you want and might need to create multiple images then put them together. Then Print, trace, color.

He is actually motivated to keep improving his writing because in a little over a year when he is in college he realizes most writing assignments are going to be done in class on proctored tests. But when they tack on an art or other creative project, he figures out the easy way.

[Anonymous]

Stop questioning every single decision a teacher makes. We are responsible for hundreds of people everyday for 10+ hr no break shifts with conniving kids trying to get away with telling ba tales to parents. Here's some teacher advice. Start parenting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stop questioning every single decision a teacher makes. We are responsible for hundreds of people everyday for 10+ hr no break shifts with conniving kids trying to get away with telling ba tales to parents. Here's some teacher advice. Start parenting.

+1, Some of these complaining posters need real problems.

[Anonymous]

Some idiotic parents probably never heard of the term language arts. Music for example uses languages and book use photography and art work.

Are these parents so dense as they constantly question teachers. Go give your doctors and lawyers a hard time. Teachers got this.

[Anonymous]

Sadly some parents refuse to accept that their kids might not be perfect and might lose their precious 4.0 GPA and bring shame upon their bloodline.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sadly some parents refuse to accept that their kids might not be perfect and might lose their precious 4.0 GPA and bring shame upon their bloodline.

Because their kid can't draw?? Art (both visual and performing) is completely subjective. What if the teacher asked the kids to write a song related to a class topic and sing it to the class? Would it be okay for the teacher to tell the child they don't have a good voice and mark them down?? Give me a break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sadly some parents refuse to accept that their kids might not be perfect and might lose their precious 4.0 GPA and bring shame upon their bloodline.

Because their kid can't draw?? Art (both visual and performing) is completely subjective. What if the teacher asked the kids to write a song related to a class topic and sing it to the class? Would it be okay for the teacher to tell the child they don't have a good voice and mark them down?? Give me a break.

I hate to think about the emails sent to the poor art teacher who has the nerve to tarnish these kids perfect 4.0 gpas

[Anonymous]

As an English teacher who likes adding art to the assignments, I don’t grade on ability but rather on effort. I don’t care if the drawing is awful as long as I can tell you put effort into it. Slapping some stick figures that took you 30 seconds is just lazy and i will grade you accordingly for that effort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree there should be an alternative assignment option. The art ones used to make my kid miserable. He would agonize over them and endure so much stress, and for what? Even if fun for the majority of kids, why put the others through it when it is not even pedagogically pertinent?

Because regular English assignments make some kids miserable and we force them to work at it and engage in the struggle and do their best and learn and improve even when it’s hard. Those are good experiences for your child to have too. Not everything is easy, and these assignments are valuable precisely because they flip the script on which kids it’s hard for and which kids it’s easy for. Teach your kids there’s value in working hard at something that doesn’t come easily to them and stop complaining that teachers give assignments your kids aren’t naturally good at. Believe it or not, communicating through pictures is also an English class skill - political cartoons, propaganda, marketing, advertising. All different types of relevant English course skills and knowledge.

Perfectly said!!