Kids don’t usually love them. Some actually hate them. There’s seldom anything in between about essay tests. Where objective tests are tests of recognition—all a student has to do is identify the correct answer or whether a statement is true or false–essay tests, require complete recall. A child must remember all of the information, write about it coherently, and proofread carefully. And, while grading them can be a time-consuming task, essays offer a truer measure of learning than, say, multiple choice, and kids should welcome them. Here’s why:
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Says Avi, “Read your first draft, and, if you think it’s good, you’re in trouble . . . The more you rewrite, the better your writing will be.” For many kids, though, the top writing priority is getting the thing done—often measured in length rather than quality. Hit the required number of words or pages, redo it in ink or on a word processor—and the story ends unhappily with poor grades and lots of “I hate writing.” That’s the time to step in.

First piece of advice to share: Read the rest of this entry »

I bet you can read this definition of a joule: “Tihs is a uint of wrok euaql to one nwteon-mteer.” Your child probably can, too, because, as Cambridge University researchers suggest, the oredr of the ltteers in a wrod deosn’t mttaer as lnog as the frist and lsat ltteer is in the rghit pclae. But recognizing words is only half of the reading story; the rest is all about understanding those clusters of letters. Otherwise, they remain empty symbols.

To get a handle on an assignment, a survey, or overview, of the chapter is a must. This entails glancing at graphics and their captions, and noting the first sentence–occasionally the last–of each paragraph for main ideas, as well as bold or italicized terms. Along the way, summaries, end-of-chapter questions, and review sections should also be jotted down.  Read the rest of this entry »

It’s all the rage and even comes with bragging rights. Cheating, that is. As one webber proclaims, “I have cheated on tests, homework, projects, and other assignments all through my scholastic career . . . It’s something I take pride in.” This site, like some others, asks readers to forward their cheating tricks for posting. No wonder surveys find that 75% of students—many shamelessly–confess to cheating and/or copying text at least once. How about your child? And what example have you been setting along the way? To start, which of these have you ever done for your child? Read the rest of this entry »

Your child’s all set for school, and you’ve got a handle on it, too, but here’ something else you can do: get up close and personal with your daily newspaper—and share it. Besides being a resource that can change how your child thinks about the world, it can help hone her English, reading, writing, math, geography skills, and more. Potentially boundless, this is one-stop, cross-curricular shopping at its best. For now, though, we’ll stick with language arts. Read the rest of this entry »