When I took over the journalism class (because the teacher was retiring), I was told that hopefully the counselor wouldn't add any students for those last two weeks.
Alas, she did.
Jason needed something to do, but all the articles had been assigned. So, I flailed about for something to give him. I hit upon the idea of a review, as the movie reviewer had been absent for days. But he wasn't into movies. However, he was into music.
(I've read the school newspaper. Several issues, in fact. So, I know they occasionally have an album review. It wouldn't be out of place.)
Jason wanted to review his own music. He couldn't comprehend why I would object to that.
But eventually, I got him to understand that he could review any other album by any other artist he liked.
So, for three days he worked on his review. Once he finished it, he submitted it to me.
It had the usual grammatical errors. Those I was expecting. I was also expecting that I might not have heard of the artist or the album. (I hadn't. He reviewed Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho.)
What I didn't expect is that he didn't actually review the album. He put together three paragraphs that are obviously cobbled together from that Wikipedia page I linked to. Nothing about what the album sounds like. Nothing about what he thought of it. Nothing that sounds like an album review.
He had no idea what I was talking about when I gave him back my notes.
I attempted to explain what I meant by an album review, but it was like I was speaking to him in Greek. He didn't get it. So, I searched out some examples of album reviews. I gave him a link to Rolling Stone's page of album reviews. He balked until I explained I just wanted him to take a look and use those as examples.
A couple days later he resubmitted his article to me. He had added a paragraph on the end about the music.
While I would really like to just copy and paste what he wrote, copyright and all attaches, so I won't. Suffice it to say, he wrote a sentence saying what kind of music it was, and not saying a whole lot more.
Hopefully the new journalism teacher can get a better album review out of him. I tried. I really did.
How can he not know how to review an album? Weird kid.
ReplyDeleteOh gosh, he knows he'll have to do book reviews and stuff for English I hope
ReplyDeleteIt read a lot like a book report. That's the problem.
DeleteWhy was it so hard for him to understand? Or was he playing like it was?
ReplyDeleteI doubt he'd ever seen a music review before. Although, he should get familiar with them since that's the field he plans on going into.
DeleteDoesn't sound like he's learned much from journalism class. I wonder if he's ever read a review before.
ReplyDeleteI can't begin to imagine why he in a journalism class!
ReplyDeleteBecause he needs English credits. That's why they're all there.
DeleteOh boy...he doesn’t know much does he
ReplyDeleteThis is why he ended up at the continuation high school. Kinda the whole point, really.
DeleteI tore my hair out this week teaching nine year old to write an info report. I reckon even most of them could nut out a review. He sounds like he should rethink his subject choice. Poor you. It's so frustrating.
ReplyDeleteThey get stuck in the journalism class when they need English credits, so I doubt it was his first choice.
DeleteI honestly don't know what else you could have done. ~shakes head~ Sorry about your travails, though I always enjoy reading. Be well!
ReplyDeleteYou can lead a horse to water...
DeleteSigh ...
ReplyDeleteYeah.
DeleteI had a little chuckle when reading the part where he wanted to review his own music.
ReplyDeleteAnd he couldn't understand why I wouldn't let him. Like I was being unreasonable. Sigh.
DeleteProbably not the best class for him alas. Sorry I missed your what if. That was a good one. Made me think...but I can't! Because I'm already working on something else.
ReplyDeleteI hope so to0
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't sound like much journalism is going on in that class!
ReplyDeleteNope. Not really.
ReplyDelete