Anonymous
Post 01/10/2012 19:39     Subject: Re:DS needs to choose a novel for 10 page paper
How long has he had this assignment? Can he chose any book and write about any topic? If so, the teacher really should narrow things down a bit. Have him choose a book he enjoys and basically write about what is meaningful to him. Not that hard.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2012 19:37     Subject: DS needs to choose a novel for 10 page paper
Invisible Man
Song of Solomon
Midnight's Children
The Book Thief
Imaging Argentina
Women In Love
A Canticle for Liebowitz

All Interesting books worthy of an essay, all written by men or about men.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2012 18:58     Subject: Re:DS needs to choose a novel for 10 page paper
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP 14:42 I really appreciate your post. I completely agree. Good for all these women that don't think they will be involved in their child's education in 12th grade. That's their choice. If you knew our situation, I am actually far from a helicopter parent. That said this paper is 75% of his 3rd term grade and I know how things like this can go for him. Also would like to point out to the women that say 10 pages is nothing to crank out. Maybe not for you or I but these kids don't get much practice at this age with long research papers. This is only the third one ever of this length and the two previous papers were much more focused topics, which I appreciated and didn't get involved in besides proofreading the final draft.


But OP, what do you expect when he gets to college? Is he going to call you and ask for help "cranking out" a paper then? Did you go to college? Some classes required a 10 page+ paper a WEEK. He's a senior, you HAVE to let him figure out this (extremely easy middle-school level) assignment on his own. There's no excuse for a last semester senior to be unable to choose a book and write a paper on it.


This. If he can't handle this at this point, something has gone terribly wrong.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2012 18:54     Subject: DS needs to choose a novel for 10 page paper
This is a very odd question, indeed.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2012 18:24     Subject: DS needs to choose a novel for 10 page paper
My kids learned how to identify themes, motifs, etc. in novels and short stories by the sixth grade.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2012 18:20     Subject: Re:DS needs to choose a novel for 10 page paper
Anonymous wrote:OP 14:42 I really appreciate your post. I completely agree. Good for all these women that don't think they will be involved in their child's education in 12th grade. That's their choice. If you knew our situation, I am actually far from a helicopter parent. That said this paper is 75% of his 3rd term grade and I know how things like this can go for him. Also would like to point out to the women that say 10 pages is nothing to crank out. Maybe not for you or I but these kids don't get much practice at this age with long research papers. This is only the third one ever of this length and the two previous papers were much more focused topics, which I appreciated and didn't get involved in besides proofreading the final draft.


But OP, what do you expect when he gets to college? Is he going to call you and ask for help "cranking out" a paper then? Did you go to college? Some classes required a 10 page+ paper a WEEK. He's a senior, you HAVE to let him figure out this (extremely easy middle-school level) assignment on his own. There's no excuse for a last semester senior to be unable to choose a book and write a paper on it.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2012 18:03     Subject: Re:DS needs to choose a novel for 10 page paper
16:43, that is wonderful but it is not the norm for a lot of families. I own a tutoring business and employ 10 other tutors as well as work with students myself. While I don't encourage the practice and don't believe I would go this route with my children there are many many parents who pay top dollar to have someone write large papers like this with their children. I have some families willing to pay $1000 for something of this length based on the amount of hrs their child takes to work on it. So honestly, the OP is the least of the troubles with parenting problems these days.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2012 16:43     Subject: Re:DS needs to choose a novel for 10 page paper
Don't worry, we're not all like this. My 17-year-old junior is in the middle of finals, and he's taken total responsibility for studying. I know he thinks they're going fine, and that's about it. He asks us (parents) to read his papers in draft form and give suggestions (and he's been writing at least one 10-pager a year since grade 6, many more now). He's not special - actually, he has an attention disorder - but we've backed off and he's picked up the slack.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2012 15:04     Subject: Re:DS needs to choose a novel for 10 page paper
OP 14:42 I really appreciate your post. I completely agree. Good for all these women that don't think they will be involved in their child's education in 12th grade. That's their choice. If you knew our situation, I am actually far from a helicopter parent. That said this paper is 75% of his 3rd term grade and I know how things like this can go for him. Also would like to point out to the women that say 10 pages is nothing to crank out. Maybe not for you or I but these kids don't get much practice at this age with long research papers. This is only the third one ever of this length and the two previous papers were much more focused topics, which I appreciated and didn't get involved in besides proofreading the final draft.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2012 14:47     Subject: DS needs to choose a novel for 10 page paper
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:He's a SENIOR and you're soliciting an anonymous message board for book suggestions? Well, that explains the noise I heard - it was your helicopter.


It is a different day, people. 12th grade teachers can hold kids to ridiculous standards at times and "teacher professionalism" is a thing of the past in many schools. Some teachers will take out their petty grievance with your kid over a grade on an english paper and RUIN YOUR CHILD'S LIFE over it. This term's grades are vey important for college admission--I wouldn't let some potentially vindictive teacher ruin my kids future because of some petty grievance he or she might have with my kid or his family. Nowadays more personal info is out there for teachers to get hold of and ruminate over. You can't just leave it to chance and hope a teacher will be "fair" or supportive all the time anymore. People are crazy. You have to be very intolved in your kid's school work, even at this level, depending on the type of kid you've got. If your kid is this AWESOME self starter, bully for you, you've been lucky. Stop trying to kill off the competition by claiming someone else is helicoptering. We're all way more involved the parents used to be--times change.


Yes, I see that.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2012 14:45     Subject: DS needs to choose a novel for 10 page paper
Anonymous wrote:Your 17 year old needs to handle his assignments and choose his topics on his own. This post takes DCUM to a whole new level in my eyes. Wow.

Please close your eyes and go help someone choose a name for her unborn child or where she can hold a first birthday party for 50 people.
Posts not relevant and helpful to OP's questions are under Jeff rules and should be deleted.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2012 14:45     Subject: DS needs to choose a novel for 10 page paper
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:He's a SENIOR and you're soliciting an anonymous message board for book suggestions? Well, that explains the noise I heard - it was your helicopter.


It is a different day, people. 12th grade teachers can hold kids to ridiculous standards at times and "teacher professionalism" is a thing of the past in many schools. Some teachers will take out their petty grievance with your kid over a grade on an english paper and RUIN YOUR CHILD'S LIFE over it. This term's grades are vey important for college admission--I wouldn't let some potentially vindictive teacher ruin my kids future because of some petty grievance he or she might have with my kid or his family. Nowadays more personal info is out there for teachers to get hold of and ruminate over. You can't just leave it to chance and hope a teacher will be "fair" or supportive all the time anymore. People are crazy. You have to be very intolved in your kid's school work, even at this level, depending on the type of kid you've got. If your kid is this AWESOME self starter, bully for you, you've been lucky. Stop trying to kill off the competition by claiming someone else is helicoptering. We're all way more involved the parents used to be--times change.


Anonymous
Post 01/10/2012 14:42     Subject: DS needs to choose a novel for 10 page paper
Anonymous wrote:He's a SENIOR and you're soliciting an anonymous message board for book suggestions? Well, that explains the noise I heard - it was your helicopter.


It is a different day, people. 12th grade teachers can hold kids to ridiculous standards at times and "teacher professionalism" is a thing of the past in many schools. Some teachers will take out their petty grievance with your kid over a grade on an english paper and RUIN YOUR CHILD'S LIFE over it. This term's grades are vey important for college admission--I wouldn't let some potentially vindictive teacher ruin my kids future because of some petty grievance he or she might have with my kid or his family. Nowadays more personal info is out there for teachers to get hold of and ruminate over. You can't just leave it to chance and hope a teacher will be "fair" or supportive all the time anymore. People are crazy. You have to be very intolved in your kid's school work, even at this level, depending on the type of kid you've got. If your kid is this AWESOME self starter, bully for you, you've been lucky. Stop trying to kill off the competition by claiming someone else is helicoptering. We're all way more involved the parents used to be--times change.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2012 14:41     Subject: DS needs to choose a novel for 10 page paper
Your 17 year old needs to handle his assignments and choose his topics on his own. This post takes DCUM to a whole new level in my eyes. Wow.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2012 14:36     Subject: Re:DS needs to choose a novel for 10 page paper
Anonymous wrote:God, i hope I am not this involved in my son's school work when my kid is in high school. Wow.


Ditto.