annoyed

a.k.a. Jamie's typical feeling about this summer.

There is an abundance of boys and a lack of parents in our neighborhood in the summer.  This lopsided distribution means that most "issues" fall into my lap to resolve and - of all the boys - there is really only one who is going to listen to anything that I say and he's not even that reliable.

So, six boys decided to throw some things (I don't even know what) at each other and one accidentally hit the plastic fence of the neighbor.  This was apparently lots of fun because they then decided to aim for the plastic fence.

Then, they all scattered.  Quickly.  The scattering I witnessed.

This was followed by a ring of the doorbell.

Because apparently *my* son was throwing things at her fence and it's a giant plastic fence and she's worried about the structural integrity of her plastic fence and the fact that she may or may not have imaginary grandchildren playing on the other said of said fence.

OMG.

Then I try to track down 6 boys, who know they are in trouble because they saw her coming and ran to someone else's house.  There were 6 boys who were NOT interested in being in trouble and certainly weren't the "boy in the red shirt" (only one kid in a red shirt, who was incidentally the only kid who the neighbor was certain was NOT involved).

In summary: 2 boys = game of monopoly.  4 boys = game of basketball.  6 boys = might as well be watching toddlers.

Watching baseball is hard

Watching baseball games is difficult for me.... although they've gotten better over the course of the season as the batters and pitchers have improved to where there is actually some action and not an alternating strike out and walk.

But, there's still lots of time during the game to analyze and ponder all sorts of baseball and non-baseball related things.  Perhaps not being able to keep my mind focused on the game at all times has made me aware of one particular set of parent-child dynamics and it makes me very sad.

I think I've said it before, but I like Jacob's coaches this year.  They seem to have a good attitude and they mix things up a bit but they also try to keep strategies that will help them win.  For example, last night they locked a win on the game (being the away team and hitting the time limit) and so the coach put the outfielders in the infield and the infielders in the outfield and let someone pitch who wanted to but hasn't ever done it before.  It wasn't the prettiest inning - but who cares?  They did not get the shutout they might have had, but the kids had fun.

I just want to highlight that the overall attitude on the team is kind of "we want to win, and we want to have fun; and sometimes we also might lose, but let's keep a good attitude and never give up."

This has been good for Jacob, as he's really just gotten a little more confident in his ability to hit the ball.... like... well... this week.  And some kids are still struggling with hitting and fielding.  One kid, who falls in the mid-bottom of the "skill" level of players has a father who seems to believe that any praise might detract from the fact that his son's play might have been "better."  He chastises his kid for not swinging at the pitches, but then chastises him for swinging at balls.  The kid seriously takes a swing, then turns and looks for his dad in the stands.  Every.  Single.  Time.  And his glance is always returned with a scowl.

Yesterday, the kid made a nice catch of a pop fly for an out.  All the kids and coaches were telling him nice play and he had a big smile on his face.  He came over to the stands to his dad and sister (sister who gave him a big high-five) and a dad who said something that eliminated most of the smile from the boy's face.

I know there are a variety of different philosophies on how to motivate kids and there is no magic button.  Perhaps I should just be glad that this guy isn't one of the team's assistant coaches.  And I can't say that I've watched anything that would be considered abusive (through work I did have to go through training on that....  because.... well I have no idea why really).  But, I felt like going over and just being like "dude, he made a good play, just say 'good job.'  Just this once."  Clearly it would mean the world to that kid.

Attack Kitty

So, the neighbors have a new puppy.... a little cockapoo or something like that.  Right now it's just a very hyper ball of fur.

Yesterday, the boys were playing with him and Jacob came in the house to get some water.... and the puppy followed.  What great fun! A new place to explore!

Until.... Wylie saw him speeding past in the kitchen from her preferred hangout spot in the sunroom.

"Intruder!!!"

Holy crap, the cat was on it.  Like a flash she was in the main house, horrid noises emitting from her throat, fur all puffed out.

The puppy was somewhat oblivious to this new creature he'd encountered.  I mean, I'm sure all other mammals had been pretty welcoming to him in his short life - so why fear this crazy ball of fur.  Off he went around in the family room.

"This house is MY house!!!"

No sooner had he rounded the corner that the cat took the short route and planted herself right in front of the puppy.  Back arched, teeth bared, Get The Hell Out!

And this point, the puppy may have registered that this is not someone I want to play with.  He paused for a moment of confusion, and turned to walk slowly in the other direction.

This gave me the opportunity to scoop him up (he was all wet from the grass, so that was also awesome) and put him back outside.

The cat continued to voice her deep dissatisfaction with the whole event.

I guess we won't be getting a dog, LOL.

Bring on the rubric

This post will be a small rant about grading rubrics..... 4th grade grading rubrics.

As an aside - I'm a believer in rubrics.  As an engineer, I especially like that they make it easier for me to grade things like essays, projects, and papers by quantifying the components.

BUT, as a user of rubrics, I realize that you need to either make your instructions match your expectations (rubric), or make you expectations (rubric) match your instructions.  Which is why I was super annoyed that Jacob earned 27 of 50 points on his non-fiction book report, when he did exactly what the instructions said, but not what the rubric graded him on.

Let me give some examples along with an easy fix for the teacher to make their expectations more transparent.

Instruction: "Using complete sentences, tell about 5 or more interesting facts you learned from reading the book"

Rubric: "5 or more interesting facts using a total of at least two sentences per fact"

Score: 5/15 because he gave five facts with only one sentence each (why half the expectation was only 1/3 of the points is another point to ponder).

Jamie's Instructions Recommendation: "Write about 5 or more interesting facts you learned from reading the book, using at least two sentences for each fact." 

(with a note that the teacher is actually asking the students to "write" about the facts and not "speak" about the facts, so "tell" is really also not the correct word here)

Instruction: "Did you like the book? Did you think the book did a good job of teaching you about the topic? Would you recommend this book to a friend? Using complete sentences, explain your opinion of this book."  (this was written just as I have in one paragraph)

Rubric: "Opinion paragraph written using at least 5 complete sentences" and a second one "Recommendation paragraph including at least 5 sentences"

Score: 2/7 because I guess he wrote just one 5 sentence paragraph that answered the questions listed in the instructions.

Jamie's Instructions Recommendation: Split into two parts if there are two paragraphs required.  Part 1: "What is your opinion about the book?  Did you like the book?  Did you think the book did a good job of teaching you about the topic?  Write a full paragraph answer."

Part 2: "Would you recommend this book to a friend?  Why or why not?  Write a full paragraph answer." 

(with a note that the teacher is actually asking the students to "write" about the facts and not "speak" about the facts, so "tell" is really also not the correct word here)


See.  Not so hard to make them match.  Seriously - he'll do what you want him to do, just be clear about what you want him to do.