Language is an Art Indeed

Today, Dave assigned Spazzerific to write an essay. The Spazz hasn't done this before, and I honestly have to admit I've forgotten a lot of the process of assembly I learned in school.

Dave asked the Spazz to come up with a topic. He came up with a topic and a half-page of known facts and quotes on the California condor. Dave had a look and asked, "Where did you get this info from?"

"Well," said the Spazz, "Some of it's from my bird book, and some of it, I made up."

Dave burst out laughing.

The Spazz hid behind me and burst out crying.

Once I got Dave to shut up, I explained to Spazzerific that Daddy was laughing because it sounded like he was telling a joke when he gave his answer. Dave knows perfectly well that Spazz never "makes up" facts, especially about birds, which was what made his comment so humourous. Thankfully, the Spazz accepted the misunderstanding. The poor little duffer sniffled a bit and said, "I'm just nervous, because it's my first essay."

I have the hardest time getting this kid to slow down and accept help. He thinks he has to know everything about everything, and he penalizes himself fiercely when he "fails." I'm concerned that we nail down the skill of realistic self-evaluation and develop proper information-gathering tools to avoid feelings of failure and frustration. The essay format is not an end in itself, it's a tool. My job is to adjust this kid's thinking from "assignments are the end goal" to "assignments are ways to outfit my toolbox of skills."

"I only wanted a topic," Dave explained. "We'll show you how to write the essay."

So we sat down and I made him an outline to work with. He decided what to say in his introductory paragraph, and then began organizing three other paragraphs. He's not quite done yet. I'll continue walking him through it, and then we'll see how he feels about it. Better, I hope.