No wish to insult or upset anyone here (in fact am aspiring english teacher myself) but spent this last week in total despair at the essay my 13 yr old had to write for english h/w. Topic was fine and teh book was really great (touch, Anne Fine). But his essay had to be 17 paragraphs long with an introduction and conclusion. he'd written them both in class and he had found 17 quotes (actually with help from teacher) to illustrate his argument (gression of our understanding of main character) and all hehad to write was point, evidence (quote) and explanation. this meant that as far as he was concerned he had to write 2 sentences for each para with the quote inserted into each. he said the teacher didnt expect any kind of link between the paras (so in essence it was 17 paras all completely separate) and the conclusion he'd already written in no way brought together anything he'd written in the bulk of the essay.
it was awful, soul destroying (for him and me trying really hard not to intervene or criticise or indeed write it for him!). he doesnt like english at all, is pretty bright and gets great marks in most subjects (aprt from english). when speaking he has good arguments but when forced to write it down he freezes.
so, it it the way it's taught these days or should i speak to teacher?? It broke my heart to see him struggle withthis for hours on end and frankly produce a really crap essay! (and i do have a degree in english and am training to teach adults at gcse and a level so know a bit about this but not secondary kids teaching methods).
any one know?????