Often Mr. Baker writes in cursive letters and many of the kids can't read it very well. The journals are also full of big words and concepts that don't sink in with one mention such as how plants use carbon dioxide. The kids copy the journals from the board and then copy the drawings and when I ask if they know what they are writing about they often don't. Some kids are very slow and don't finish their entries. Some complain they can't see and they are too tired to write.
Many kids copy from their neighbor's book with a little help spelling out words.
Mr. Baker has told me how important writing is and how they need all the extra practice they can get. He also hopes that at some point they can write their own journal entries and not need a model to copy from. I understand Mr. Baker's reasoning but it doesn't seem the most effective way to engage these kids in writing because it is so prescribed without any room to accommodate for their different writing and reading needs. This club demonstrates some of the problems of a goal oriented, factory model curriculum. The goals are to reinforce the science, math, and language arts lessons of the classroom through work in the courtyard and field trips to the Long Branch Nature center.