Teacher asked me to ‘support his learning’ - should I write back and explain??

[Janus]

I have a boy in year 4, aged 8. Homework for English for the past few weeks has been Alice in Wonderland, my son has hated it! 10 questions each week on falling down a hole, growing big and small, knave of hearts stealing tarts etc!
Last week’s was awful and was all about her falling down the hole and one question was

What does Alice mean when she says ‘Reaching the heights I am now would be an impossibility’.

Erm, I didn’t know the answer!! He’s 8, he didn’t know the answer! He has cried every week we have done this homework. We have no communication book any more as our school didn’t think we needed them so I wrote on this question ‘X doesn’t know how to answer so I’d have to answer for him’ and then left it blank.
Getting homework back the teacher has put
‘Please support his learning!’
I sit every week and do this English with him, maths he’s much better with but I will help if he asks. This week the homework is finally on the Victorians and he has loved answering these questions.
I hate that she thinks I can’t be bothered to help. Would I be wrong to write a note and stick it on this week’s homework saying something like
‘I just thought I’d reply to your note of last week. X has found the Alice in Wonderland homework very hard and this has resulted in tears each week. We both honestly didn’t know how to answer that question so that’s why we left it blank. I don’t want you to think I don’t support his learning, I sit with him every week and make sure it’s completed and never late.
I’m a bit angry to be honest. One question in the whole year we haven’t done! We’ve completed every other piece of homework, often handed in early but never late.

I’m a secondary school English Teacher, teach A level, Oxbridge degree. These comprehensions are often incomprehensible. Some bought in it adapted from other people’s resources. A terrible way to teach English.

I'm 55, and since childhood I have found Alice in Wonderland nightmarish. I did English Literature at university and I'd still find it hard to answer that question.

I know that's not what you asked, but I'm not surprised your son doesn't like it, and I think the teacher was rude.

Wow so she thinks your both stupid. What a joy!

@Musmerian

I'm glad you said that. I'm from a science background but was always competent at English and sometimes find myself very confused about primary level comprehensions.

Musmerian would you give pupils homework about a book they haven’t read? I can’t get my head around that at all.

Omg how tedious.
Id send back a note ssying "jimmy is excused from Alice in Wonderland".

So when Alice says “Reaching the heights I am now would be an impossibility” she means “WTAF?”

It’s the “would be” that is baffling. I’d understand it more if she said “should be.”

Bloody crap writing imho.

Q - What does Alice mean when she says ‘Reaching the heights I am now would be an impossibility’.

A - she says it’s impossible for her to be the size that she is (not really an answer, just re-stating what Alice said with no attempt at insight or actual explanation)

or

A - WTAF (still not answering the question but also incredibly rude and likely to get the child into trouble).

I don't think any real answers to a real weird question have been given and IMHO the teacher sounds like they're being a bit of an arse about this.

I hated Alice in Wonderland when I was a child.

It was confusing and illogical and made no sense to me. I’d have struggled with that question at 8 yrs old, it’s an irritating weird question.

And given how bonkers Alice in Wonderland is, it’s not a great choice for comprehension questions if they’re not reading it in class too.

I wouldn’t give my 8 yr old an answer if they couldn’t get to one themselves though, I don’t think it’s supporting their learning to do their homework for them if they can’t.
If they really can’t do it I’d have thought it more useful that the teacher knows they can’t do it.

I love the fact there's a whole bunch of English grads and copy editors on here and we're all admitting we can't answer the question. It is really complex. Way above the level required for Yr 4!

Some people are better with numbers etc and we can't be good at everything. I bet the teacher doesn't realise you don't understand and thinks you aren't helping.

The OP says he’s had 10 questions a week on Alice in Wonderland for several weeks. That’s an awful lot of work about a book that’s not been read! She also says he hates it. So if he has not seen the book how come he hates rabbits down holes and the Knave of Hearts etc? He must have seen some extracts from it.

I would politely write that DC isn’t enjoying this book or homework. Explain he found the question obtuse.

Try and find him books he does like and read them at home. You could discuss Alice’s awe and wonder at her adventures. Even if it’s not an “answer” as such (and you are being far too literal about a right answer) you will have discussed literature and what the words might mean in the context of her previous small size. I assume you do know the story so just make shrinking and growing your topic of conversation.

That’s the “answer” by the way! Shrinking and growing!!!

They aren’t reading the book!

Why not go to your local library and borrow a copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Or buy a copy - it’s a fantastic book. Read the whole thing over a few weeks as a bed time story to your son. I think I was about 7 or 8 when I first read the Alice books.

They’re actually FULL of maths and arithmetic puzzles - Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) was a Mathematician.

There’s a really good version edited by Martin Gardner that explains all the puzzles and majored around logic and arithmetic. If your son likes maths he may enjoy that when he’s a bit older - I read it when I was10 or so.

But read the whole book! Not just silly hand out extracts.

I don't know, OP. Why are you so angry? There are times that your children need to learn something they don't like. By yr4, there are plenty.
You could have watched the film together. My dc hated it when they read the book when they were younger, but loved the film, that actually made them want to read the books.
Support his learning means whatever the school choose, you should accommodate the child to enjoy what they are learning. By saying, but he hates it, without trying to find the way for him to enjoy the subject, you are not supporting.

I feel like this happens pretty regularly through primary school. The question is potentially complex, but I think they just want you to explain it in other words. It's a vocab style comprehension, not a theme comprehension.

Being the height she is, seems impossible to Alice.

Of course, there are layers of more complex answers and we fall into the trap of thinking that is what the teacher is looking for, but it really, really isn't! Or if it is, it's inappropriate for year 4.

Teacher sounds like a passive-aggressive bell end though. You wrote something on the page, so you obviously sat with him and 'supported his learning'. Bog off Miss Honey.

I'm an English teacher. I have googled that quotation (copy of book is, at school) and it doesn't come up, so that's problem no. 1. Then the far greater one is, why OH WHY an 8 year old is being asked to do things like this at home when they could be reading instead. I'd let it go cold for a, day or so, then ask the teacher to show you as you are genuinely baffled. Context is key for this kind of inference question, get the extract and let us know what she says!

Sigh. Comma confetti. Fat fingers.

I remember hating the hand out extracts that dc brought home. I agree they’re hard to fully understand without the context of the whole book. Why don’t they spend longer on the topic at school and study the book?

Alice says ‘Reaching the heights I am now would be an impossibility." However, she has reached these heights. Therefore it is not impossible. This indicates that Alice does not understand the meaning of impossible. I blame declining standards in teaching.

Although answers like this may be why I was constantly in trouble in English class when I was in school.

I liked English, didn’t mind Alice (the actual book) but. when I was older, definitely struggle with that Q now never mind at school. My A is a variation on the theme. Did the teacher at least give an answer?

I know how tall humans grow but I seem to be a lot taller, how is that possible? WTAF is happening to me?

Reginabambina that question is far too ambiguous for an 8 year old! Children's cognitive development should be taken into account when setting questions surely - not everything in "children's books" is written for children, and in fact there is a lot of debate about whether Alice in Wonderland is really a children's book.

The quotation in the opening post supports the thesis that 'Alice in Wonderland' was written as a satire on modern Victorian mathematics.

You should have written that OP

Sadly some primary school teachers have moments of appearing completely ignorant of the stages of children's cognitive development, or just get carried away with their own hobby horses (a surprising number of adults are utterly obsessed with the original Alice in Wonderland)...

I find the question very confusing and I have A level English!!

I couldn’t answer two of dd yr 4 comprehension qs last week either

Alternatively...

Alice says ‘Reaching the heights I am now would be an impossibility." As this is an impossibility, Alice must be imagining that she has reached these heights. She could be dreaming or it could be a drug induced hallucination. Earlier extracts stating that she has been eating and drinking unidentified substances are indicative of the latter hypothesis. I have told my mum and she will be complaining to the Board of Governers and OFSTED as she says glorifying drugs is entirely inappropriate for Y4.