Spotted Dick & School...

[melody_wood14]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <bboyminn at ...> wrote:
>
> --- melody_wood14
      
      The project was to " go the England" or one of the other
      countries on their list. Two kids went to each one. They 
      had to do 3 project, all were listed and how to do them.
      They all had to do a treasure box and the teacher explained
      to them how to do it. Then pick 2 other projects. His were 
      Food mat and scrap book. Each were done on poster board 
      and with food mat he had to bring food. He printed 3  
      recipies with pictures and brought spotted dick and 
      lemon biscuts. I found they at H.E.B. For the scrap book 
      he had Euros and pictures from the internet as well as 
      some fact about Stonehenge, Woodhenge, Brown Willy and 
      platform 9 3/4. Then had to do and oral presentation 
      in class over everything. It was there end of the 6 weeks
      test grade so it counted for 20% of the 6 weeks grade.
      He still passed the 6 weeks even with the low grade. 
      The teacher is out sick for the rest of the year,4
      more weeks. So I can not ask her to explain how she 
      came up with the grade. Three out five family members
      liked the spotted dick at our house. It a house of picky
      eaters that is not bad odds. This type of project
      is not new to us every year from 1st grade on up he 
      "taken a trip over seas". To all teachers out there
      it is a wonderful thing for them to do. Last year he 
      "went to Egypt" for a month.He had a journel and wrote 
      in it every day what he did and what it cost. From 
      the plane flight there to the flight back home. He is 
      a pre-teen boy, 12. I have had a conference with this teacher 
      for other reasons and she told that he reads to much sci-fi
      and needed to read more historical books. That his head was 
      to high in the sky. My answer to that was at least he reads
      1 to 2 hours a night every night. He has not had a good year 
      this school year and thank goodness it is almost over. I just
      feel bad because this is the first time that I have tried to
      help him or that he has let me help him on a project. Normaly
      I buy the supplies and just watch him do it. So maybe it was my 
      help that hurt his grade. Well with the teacher gone we will
      never know. He did say that with all everyones input it made 
      research easier so for that thank you everyone. We liked the
      project so we decided the grade was to harsh and to forget
      the grade it made. 
    
> >
> 
> bboyminn:
> 
> I was under the impression that it was not just a report, but
> more of an understanding of foreign lands through their food.
> So, I suspect that the boy brought some real home-made Spotted
> Dick to school for his class to enjoy, or at least taste. His
> other classmate found British foods of their own and brought
> those, or possibly someone brought Chinese food, someone 
> brought African food, etc.... 
> 
> I've seen small international diversity fairs like this at 
> some schools where the whole approach is about food from
> different lands. It seems very common.
> 
> In this case, the whole idea that Spotted Dick would be
> laughed at in the USA, but was very common and popular
> in the UK, did the job perfectly, by showing a very good 
> desert that had an odd name to the American view. I thought 
> this was the whole point of the thing. In a sense, the
> point of cultural diversity is to realize that we can't
> measure the world with ourselves at the center. Other people
> and other cultures see the world very differently than
> we do, and this illustrated that perfectly.
> 
> Still, we knew it was going to get a laugh, and be...how
> can I say this...culturally questionable. But still, I think
> the teacher WAY over reacted.
> 
> Just a thought.
> 
> Steve/bboyminn
>