If you have kids in school, you are probably bombarded with a paper trail of school work. Obviously that’s a good gauge on what’s being taught at school and how well your kid is doing. And as the kids grow older the paper trail grows as well.
So our third grader routinely brings home three to five sheets of old school work each day, in addition to three or four pages of homework. I give a cursory glance to the work being sent home each day and occasionally I find something interesting, like I did yesterday.
This sheet was from a reading comprehension review. I’m not sure if the teacher read the story to the kids or if the kids read the story themselves and then answered the questions.
Regardless, from the papers I could see this was a story called “Prudy’s Problem” and was about a chick named Prudy who hoarded junk. At the end her family and friends helped her create a museum to showcase her stuff.
The last three questions were open-ended and required a written answer. I have scanned the actual sheet because:
1. The drawing of the kid on the bottom holding the stop sign made me laugh,
2. Visuals in a post are a fun way to punctuate the commentary, and
3. I wanted you to get the full experience before I give you my thoughts.
Question 18: Why was Egbert worried when he saw Evie collecting things?
Answer: He was worried because he thinks Evie will collect too much and end up like Prudy.
Question 19: Why was the setting at the end of the story important?
Answer: The setting at the end of the story was important because it is all clean at the museum.
Question 20: Why was Prudy’s museum a success with visitors?
Prudy’s museum was a success because it was amazing to see.
First and foremost, I wondered if the teacher thought all three answers were great and garnered a star or if she was especially impressed with the answer to number 18. She wrote “Great!” next to 18, but I guess it really doesn’t matter.
More importantly, I noticed a trend in my kid’s answers. She restated the question at the beginning and then gave her answer. Kind of how the Miss America contestants reply in the Question and Answer segments.
When imagining my daughter on the stage — knowing she was exploiting her looks with the express goal of earning scholarship money to hone her mind — I think of this scenario.
Somber, ominous music plays as she reaches into the clear fishbowl to choose her question. The B-list celebrity in a tuxedo opens the paper and reads into his hand held microphone: “If you could accomplish one thing during your reign as Miss America, Katie, what would it be?”
Katie wraps her hand around the mic, above his hand since he will not release the microphone into her custody, leans forward and begins her answer.
“If I could accomplish one thing during my reign as Miss America, I would like that one thing that I accomplish — during my reign (pauses and smiles) as Miss America — it would be to create a Utopian society of people who always wear Converse low tops.”
Then she smiles proudly as she screams into the microphone and waves, “I love you Mom!”
It could happen.
Stumble it!
