I work at an elementary school in one of the most respected school districts in South Jersey. Test scores are high, the children comes from middle and upper class families, students that graduate go on to Ivy League schools, cutting edge materials are used, and the teachers strive to give their students the best learning experience possible. The school is part of the International Baccalaureate Program, and it is also a PYP school. PYP stands for Primary Years Program and the school must pay to be a part of this. PYP becomes part of the schools curriculum and it is based on the principle of developing the student as a whole person. It is based on the ten learner profiles: inquirers, thinkers, risk- takers, communicators, reflective, principled, caring, open- minded, knowledgeable and balanced. The students also learn about the learner profile traits, or traits that they should strive to acquire. I was shocked when I heard a first grader use empathy correctly in context during a conversation, but that is what PYP is all about. Impressed yet?
I could go on and on describing how great the school is, but I actually want to focus on an area that needs improvement. While first graders are walking around using the words empathy, inquiry, and integrity on a regular basis, second graders don’t know where to put periods in a sentence. It seems strange, but the highest achieving students in some classrooms don’t know a thing about punctuation! This is not a mistake on the teachers’ part; it is because of the writing program used in the school. The school uses a program authored by Lucy Caulkins; the program focuses on writing about “small moments.” A small moment is taking the most important part of a story and stretching it out. For example, I went to McDonalds and ate the best cheeseburger of my life. The small moment would be a description of how the cheeseburger tasted and how it made me feel. Now don’t get me wrong, I think this program is great; however, it needs to be used in conjunction with another program that teaches basic punctuation. I find it so disappointing that the students excel in so many areas but can’t use punctuation.
I think the new teaching practices and programs are very effective, but sometimes I wonder if the basic, old ways were just as good. I remember learning grammar every year up until eighth grade with textbooks and everything. I’m sure there is a reason why this school does not do that, but is their plan working? What good is a short story or any piece of writing for that matter, if the student doesn’t know where a period should go?
