Struggles with analysing literature - any way round this constant problem?

[thathappened]

Help! It's a constant nightmare. I don't really know how to help. DD thinks my views are wrong but can offer nothing and so we have an ongoing nightmare whenever homework is about analysing a chapter(s) or characters. Can anyone offer advice??? Ways to deal with or get through this besides turning to the gin??!

Pengggwn I am not making sweeping statements about the value of regurgitating versus originality and flair. I am referring to this specific type of child who cannot cope with interpreting the subjective opinions of fictional characters to create originality and flair. Most likely a very small part of the population.

And I am not saying this makes them brilliant English students, just better than failing the subject and hating studying it. I am saying I have experienced it overcoming a real problem in a real child.

Of course every parent wants their child to do their best : this isn't always top marks, though. I don't know about that, there probably are some... BUt of course OP should talk to her teacher, I am only giving one parents opinion (mine) about a child like this and that teachers suggestions didn't help but learning answers & regurgitating did get them over the line. So they can now drop English and focus on subjects that suits the way they think.

I am sorry if teachers think I am disregarding them, I dont mean to. They have done great things with my DC, just in this one specific instance my method worked better. I dont want to label the ops DD, my DC is probably Aspergers but not enough to get it labeled/extra help (not that I want it) and when I started treating them as such progress was made. Nothing was/is ever going to get them to understand the subjective opinions of fictional characters and trying to distressed them greatly.

I think pengggwynn meant I was making sweeping statements!

And you are still doing English teachers a disservice implying we can't teach/ don't know how to teach children with a range of needs.

I am very proud a girl I teach with no ability to infer or think anything other than objectively just got 2 5s by didn't of a range of strategies and a lot of communication between home and school.

I have taught many children with ASD traits who have actually really enjoyed lit and gone on to do A Level.

It sounds like you put a hell of a lot of dedication into your DC's education and for that I applaud you warmly.

Oh, OK.

I am guessing history with all its objective facts isn't on your list of subjects you have worked on with your DC.

Perhaps things only matter if they happen in our lifetimes? Within our lifetimes people have burnt The Satanic Verses, The Ku Klux Klan have burnt books by black authors and the Koran has been burnt in the streets. The Taliban burn books.

Your comments are just facetious so I'm bowing out of this one with your probably people. Probably ??? OK.

If you tell autistic students, piggy that "learning" the major themes, facts, and characterisations, key quotes etc, rather than making your own original interpretations, is plagarism, you are doing them a MASSIVE disservice. I hope that isn't what you meant.
Of course every autistic child us different, but for many, facts are "safe" whereas opinions are "risky". When this is combined with anxiety you can end up with paralysis where students write very little it almost nothing as they cannot infer or analyse the characters' motives themselves and are frightened of copying key ideas because someone creatively minded has told them this us plagarism. That is true at university level but wholly unnecessary pressure at GCSE level. With my son we are looking at doing enough to get a 4. We are doing that by telling him the key themes, quotes etc and him learning them. He is an amazing programmer and mathematician but interpretation of texts is a foreign language for him. However he must pass english GCSE to stay on at his school 6th form. When you are looking at this pass/ fail borderline for kids like my son the scientific approach is the only chance he has.

Nope : I said learning others' answers off by heart is plagiarism.

What you are doing is exactly what I would and did recommend upthread.

And you are still doing English teachers a disservice implying we can't teach

Piggy I really am not trying to do that, I am giving an example of my children and my experience in one specific area. It is not a comment on teachers in general or even in just one subject. It is just about my specific experience. Is that not allowed? I would assume the OP would give more weight to opinions from teachers like yourself but sometimes individual experiences strike a cord that they can identify with and helps.

My comments were not intended to be facetious, they were literal, I was taken aback when you expressed shock that I didn't know Nazis burning books. Maybe you think I am closed minded but I dont study history in detail, of course I know about the gas chambers in WW2 but I dont study them. My DC dropped history, probably because my love of learning didn't cover that area.

They got a 7 and an 8 by the way which is a lot more than expected. I am fully aware of their potential. In English they could have got 9's, they have the ability but its like its locked behind a door and its painful to even try and open it. Yes we have tried but in the process of trying we almost brought the whole mental house down. We found a way that worked and went with it, now they can focus on subjects that their brain 'computes'. I am sorry that upsets you.

I'm bowing out of this one with your probably people. Probably ??? OK.
Really sorry I dont get why this upsets you. I think everyone would want top marks for their DC but you say they dont so I accept that on basis of probability you are right. Why is that upsetting?

I said learning others' answers off by heart is plagiarism

Isn't that the acceptable face of plagiarism at GCSE? Its not even that, its about creating answers before hand using other peoples opinions so you can memorize them for use in an exam. Is this not like a one legged child using a prosthetic limb to run a race at school?

The upsetting was about you saying the Nazis burnt coal, gas, probably people.

Unless you are a Holocaust denier there is no probably.

No no no Piggy, I didnt mean to write that. I only see it now you point it out. I have reported it was def not meant in any way what so ever.

Good, that's that sorted.

Phew.

Congrats to your DC on those excellent results. As I said, they must have a great brain.

I love books, I know my history, and still I burn my books at the end of my school days.They're my books to dispose of how I like, the same as my pens, notebooks, rulers etc

I doubt my burning of the complete works of Shakespeare has made a dent in the number of them out there. Of course I did have to buy a different edition another copy for my literature degree.

It's not like I want Shakespeare banned. And my literature studies are now post-grad and soon to be MA. Burning textbooks does not a NAzi make FFS

Thanks Piggy, my DC do have great brains but the down side is its a daily struggle with personal interaction in real life verses their literal brains. I dont know if its a blessing or a curse. Not complaining but it feels like you are often abnormal without sympathy. A levels will be easier.

Thank you elfycat, I am not alone on MN