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Dear Report Cards, You Suck.

Dear Report Cards,

I’m just a few days away from moving into year 7. I’m writing this because I have something to tell you: You suck. You have been lying to me for at least the last three years. You’ve told me over and over again that I’m a D student in English. But you’re wrong; I’m not.

This year, I’m a B student.

I’ve made a B because I have a teacher that understands me. He didn’t concentrate on testing. This is good because I don’t do well on tests, and I think they are unfair for some children. I don’t know why, but sometimes when I start a test, I forget everything. I know other kids that do the same.

I earned a B because my teacher focused on the bottom of my iceberg. All the work that I did across the year, the revisions I completed, and all the progress that I made. The most important part of my iceberg is the time and effort I put into it. You need to find time to make the bottom because without a strong base; you can’t have success at the top.

Now, I know for a fact that I can’t spell. The only reason you can easily read this is because of my best friend, spell check. My spelling difficulties make my hand-writing hard to read. In the past, I’ve done most of my writing in a textbook without revisions. So, of course I was going to get a D.

Having access to technology has changed my world. Being able to type my work and click on a red line to fix a wrong word has suddenly made my work correct. Feedback is another extremely helpful tool. When I was stuck or when I’m just finished, I used feedback to fix the things that were wrong or to add things that I may not have thought of. Feedback is an awesome tool!

I know I don’t need to show you the Curriculum because you’ve seen it. But I’m looking at it right now and spelling only appears in one box out of about 20 (phonics and word knowledge). Is it fair to say that a child’s writing is D worthy when the main problem with it is the spelling? When you get past that, it could be really good. So don’t judge a book by its cover. Unlike you, report cards, this year my teacher took that one box for what it is. Small.

The grade game is a big thing. Throughout the year every teacher and student will play it. This year we changed the game, and we changed our classroom. I was able to get feedback all the time. I was able to use technology. I learned to self-assess. I had time to revise and check my work which made my writing better. Because I showed evidence of growth and learning, I became a B student.

 This story was originally posted on Medium and BlogMoore17

Responses to Dear Report Card, You Suck

Since writing a reflection titled “Dear Report Cards, You Suck“, Lynton’s post has been viewed almost a thousand times by educators all around the world. Lynton received encouragement and compliments from as far afield as the USA, Canada, UK, Germany, Spain, Sweden, and NZ. These are just some of the messages of support since publishing over the weekend. Every learner has a unique story to tell, and whether it impacts one person or a thousand, writing like this deserves to be shared.

Congratulations, Lynton. You were brave enough to share your struggles and it resonated and impacted a great many people. Well Done.

 

Mister Stink

Book Report – Mister Stink 

Image result for mister stink bookI loved this book it was funny, interesting, sad and it had a strong clear moral. It’s about a young girl and a tramp living out on the streets with a black dog. One day Clowe notices him and feels really bad. They end up having a good conversation and becoming friends, the only problem is her rich, mean, posh mother whose only fond of her second born. The mother would spit it at her if she found out her child was talking to a tramp.

I hope my small spoiler made you interested. I would suggest this book for year 5’s or parents reading this to a child because I think this is one of those books that will change their lives. I also hope after reading this book you realize just because someone is different, it doesn’t mean that they’re not human.     

Book Review

Demon Dentist

 

This is a great book. The story isn’t a series of events, it’s easy to read and it flows really well. I would suggest this for ages 9, 10 and 11.

It’s about a young boy, Alfie, with a father stuck in a wheelchair. Slowly, as his father gets older, he needs help so he contacts a social worker. She comes to their house with a big smile and finds a bunch of dental checkup notices. She then sends the son to a dental clinic where there is an evil dentist who out of know where pulls out a lot of blood contraptions… if you want to find out what happens next I suggest you read the book!

 

100 Word Challenge – The Bars Won’t Hold!

Mmmm mmmm mmmmmmm! The shark launched its head into the cage and lashed out. It was stuck but you knew it was hungry, perhaps he thought that we were chicken. It’s mouth munching on the bar trying to rip it off. The massive jaws, the sharp, jagged teeth, it was horrendous. The way it snapped its jaws. It was like a movie. Waiting for it to bite I clenched the bars on either side of me. I saw my life flash before my eyes, every single bit of it. “Aaaaah!” Crack. Rip. Chomp…

Response to Monte and Others

Dear Monte

I really appreciate your response and it opened my eyes to how much student voice can change a classroom and how important it is. I’m also starting to think that a class without student’s voice is not a classroom at all. It’s more like a graveyard where dreams are destroyed, and I think that more teachers should start stepping up their game as many students aren’t getting what they need. It really makes me amazed at how you and Mr Moore are changing the world day by day. So again, a classroom is not a classroom without student’s voice and teachers like you to listen!

Thank you,

Lynton.D

Sphero chariot questions

Explain how we designed and built the chariot?

We did the launch cycle found pictures of a chariot and based our chariot on it.

Would you do it again and why ?

Yes I think that it would be interesting to see if our new chariot did better than the original one.

What is the difference between your chariot and the winners chariot?

I think that Heath and my careot had an unstable weals as one of them fell off during the finals but James and Jacobs careot weals would run smoothly

Did we connect with our community in a meaningful way? Explain your answer.

Yes because after hours some students stayed behind and tours people how to use the spheros

Were we successful in advocating “powerful” 21st century learning elaborate ?

Because we learned something new and yoused our nolige in the real world