Year 7 homework - again! Opinions please? Any RE teachers around?

[seeker]

My dd is in year 7. They are "doing" the Prodigal Son in RE and her homework was "Write a poem about forgiveness" No other guidance. This is what she wrote - sorry, it's long!The Lost Son

My brother left one day
With the money
He went on his own
Along a windy path
To a future

He spent all the money
Became poor and lost and lonely
Looked up at the stars
Thought of us
And came back

Down that windy path
He came back
Begging forgiveness
He got it
But not from me

I have worked all the time he was away
Cooking cleaning
I am angry
I am sad
I got taken for granted

We had a party
Father cooked the calf we save for special occasions
They eat, drink and singing
I sneak out to milk the cows
No one notices

I sit and milk
It?s not fair
Not one thank you
He gets all the attention
But I do not notice when he slides in

?I?m sorry?
I turn round
He stands there
Sorrow in his eyes
I forgive him

Down the windy road
He came back
And I forgave him
At last.

She got a C for it - considered not good and one step from "do it again" at her school. The comment was "You should have investigated/explained why forgiveness is important.

Any thoughts? It's her first C, she's unhappy about it, and it doesn't seem fair to me. Ot Am I Being Unreasonable.

I think it's a lovely poem
I'm not a teacher & my DD is in Yr 5 but I am very impressed with the poem

I think it's an excellent piece of work for a Y7, but can perhaps see her teacher's point about explaining the importance of forgiveness. However, I also think that concept is sometimes difficult for an adult to understand let alone a 11/12 year old.

I'm not a teacher but would be very proud if my DS had produced a poem like that. If the only instruction she was given was "write a poem about forgiveness" she has done a great job - how is she supposed to know she should have investigated/explained... if she wasn't told. I would feel the same as you.

That's what I thought - those were the only instructions. I know that's right because the teacher writes what she wants down on the board for them to copy into their homework books.

Dd is upset because she was proud of it, and at her school there are only two grades lower than a C - a C- which means do it again, and a D, which means to it again in detention - so C is a pretty bad mark. Oh well, put it down to experience and learning that you can't please all of the people all of the time, I suppose.

I've told her I thought it was lovely and we've sent it to Grandma, which is our way of marking achievements, so she's a bit happier about it now.

One of the hard tasks of teaching is marking down a piece of work that is good in itself, but unfortunately doesn't answer the question that was asked.

The teacher is right to mark it down, as it will help DD realise the importance of answering the actual question asked. One of the most frustrating thing about exams is that able pupils lose easy marks by not reading the question - you don't want your DD to do this.

If this were me, I'd probably mark it down, but put on a very encouraging comment - ie excellent poem retelling the parable, but unfortunately, it doesn't explain what forgiveness is and why it's important. I would also suggest that she submits the poem for the school newsletter/year book/ whatever, or to read it out at a declamations/informal readings evening if your school has these, or have the class act it out at assembly. This way she would get credit for a good retelling of the parable and good effort, but would be held to task for not doing what was asked.

Perhaps the teacher could have been clearer with her instruction, but we all make mistakes, and that's life.

But, science teacher - sorry to harp on - the ONLY instruction was write a poem about forgiveness. The stuff about investigating/explaining appeared with the C. And I know this is not dd forgetting a vital instruction because of the way homework is dished out - there is no scope for children getting the wrong brief.

If she had gone off at a tangent and NOT ANSWERED THE QUESTION (a particular bugbear of mine) would be hugely unsympathetic - but she didn"t!

Hmm, from what you have shared, she has not fulfilled the brief about forgiveness.

Now it may be reasonable to be peaved about the communication because your DD has been given a task after a series of lessons about a broader subject, and she has opted to do her hw on the broader subject. At the end of the day, your DD has only skirted the topic of forgiveness (and presumably she did have forgiveness written in her planner).

Could you maybe speak to the teacher involved Seeker? Like ST says, she would have marked it down, but also offered plenty of encouragement for a very good poem nevertheless. Is it worth just checking that although your dd copied instructions off the board, that she didn't miss a verbal instruction?

Thanks everyone. It's good for me to be told that it's not the blatant injustice it seemed at first glance! No, I'm not going to talk to anyone about it - it's a valuable learning experience for her. She is now the only person in her circle to have got a C - I think it's a badge she can wear with pride! It would have been nice if she had had some positive feedback about the poem, but hey ho - you can't please all of the people...etc etc! Thanks again.

IMO if they want religious /philospohical theory they should ask for an essay, or a argument / conversation.

They asked for a poem, they got a poem. And a bl**dy Fantastic poem !

I'd give it an A if it were English homework.
But I'm not a teacher.

I AM an RE teacher....I think it's a fantastic poem, and I would have marked it higher. She hasn't approached it from the main point of view of the parable, but has used the POV of the brother of the Prodigal Son; about how forgiveness can be a double edged sword, and how we resent others being forgiven for what seem like major offences, whilst those who try to be good and get it right all the time are unappreciated. It's also about how hard it can be to forgive, and really mean it.

Choccypig - why not a poem? I used to set them; sometimes it can be easier to grasp a concept that way than trying to pin it down and unpick it in an essay. My idea of forgiveness may be different to yours.

If the teacher wanted something specific, then she should have given appropriate guidelines - 'write a poem EXPLAINING forgiveness', which is different to the instruction given, which was ABOUT forgiveness, and for me, she has done that, and used the parable studied in the lesson, as opposed to a general poem about the subject.

Seeker, could you ask your DD if she'd mind mind if I copied this and kept it as an example please?

Scaryteacher - I'm sure she's be delighted. I'll check this evening.

Thank you for your comments - I'll pass them on. She was very excited when she got the idea of writing about the Prodigal's sister (sister, not brother - a previously unrecorded Biblical character!) - that was why she was so disappointed with her mark.

Thanks Seeker..she'd have got a couple of my smiley faces towards a merit as well!

It is interesting to see how different people mark things - bonus points from you - two steps from a detention at dd's school! I wonder how ofthen that sort of thing happens.

ScaryTeacher: Why I thought it should be an essay question, rather than a poem. The teacher seemed to have a particular answer in mind, and poetry tends to be more open-ended, because it lets you come at things from a different angle, in fact I think that's what I particularly liked about this poem, though I didn't pick up on the fact that it was the Prodigal Sons Sister.
Shows I don't have preconceptions about which sex does all the hard work..though I should have based on my house.

Choccy, one of the best ways to find out if a pupil has understood a difficult concept is to get them to do something creative - poem, poster, craft etc.

We all use a variety of tasks, and I'm sure this teacher occasionally asks for a more traditional written answer.

I haven't done it for a while, but have certainly had pupils write poems in the past - and that's for a science topic.

I teach RE and I teach a similar unit on forgiveness and the parable son.

I set a poem activity but it says in the brief that you need to explore how being forgiven can affect the forgiver or the person being foriven.

Choccy pig - that's the joy of RE - apart from the factual elements of a religion, lots of it is open to interpretation, and there is often no such thing as a 'right' answer. It's difficult for me to have an answer in mind for something like forgiveness, which is why a poem is so good. You learn an awful lot about your students understanding of a concept, and their own views on it from a poem, far more than in an essay perhaps. That is not say that RE teaching is wishy washy; but we have to measure two attainment targets, one of which is learning FROM religion:
Attainment target 2: Learning from religion
skill of asking and responding to questions of identity and experience;
skill of asking and responding to questions of meaning and purpose;
skill of asking and responding to questions of values and commitments.
...and we can do it in a variety of ways. Writing essays all the time is dull, and they do it enough at GCSE, so it's fun to 'play' lower down the school, whilst getting the basic skills in.

Scaryteacher: don't get me wrong, I think poetry is great and can be relevant in lots of subjects other than "literacy".
But I feel where you differ from the teacher who set this homework, is that you are open to more than one answer.

BTW RE sounds much more interesting now, than when I studied it in the 70s. At that time it was just a serious of "facts" from the Bible to be learnt. So I dropped it at age 14 IIRC.

Choccy - I didn't think you were having a dig - that's why I enjoy RE...I learn a lot as well about what the students think, and why, and I sometimes change my viewpoint on things after talking to them.

LOL about 70s RE...I did it from 77-80 and we had to learn the books of the bible in order from Genesis through to Revelation. God knows how he got away with it! We didn't do it for O level, just CSE, and my mum made me do Chemistry instead. I sometimes wonder how I ended up teaching RE!!

I was taught RE by nuns - all I can remember is that my body is a temple of the spirit!

imo teacher did not understand the poem.

scaryteacher - dd would be delighted for you to use her poem any way you like. Very flattered she is@

I always felt for the brother who stayed - I loved her poem!