The Hidden Purpose

by Jean

It was a writing assignment, an autobiography, for the 5th grade English students.  It was to be about three paragraphs when it was done.  Writing this much is always a difficult chore for these students, and this one was no exception.  The only reason they made it through the first draft was because the topic (themselves) held some interest for them.  I kept them at it, hoping they would learn something about English grammar, punctuation, or even how to use the English typing keyboard through it all.  Maybe they did, but the real purpose for the exercise came out about the time I abandoned trying to get them all to a final, corrected finished copy.

One of the questions they had to answer was, “Who is your best friend?”  A few of the lower students had trouble coming up with an answer for that.  Rungrit even wrote that he had no friends.  That surprised me.  Rungrit is kind and friendly with everyone.  I wondered if he might not quite understand and suggested that maybe he was friends with everyone.  No, he insisted, and crossed that out.  Again he wrote, “I have no friends.”             

This concerned me and it tied in with his recent negative attitude towards his efforts in English.  Over the next couple of weeks, I saw that he was often by himself during free times.  Then I noticed that he didn’t eat lunch one day.  He admitted that he hadn’t and that he hadn’t eaten breakfast either.  I wondered if he was discouraged not only at his inability to keep up in English, but in other areas as well.

Sandy had worked with the higher level 5th grade group when they wrote their first drafts so I didn’t know what they had written at first.  When I was correcting them, I noticed that Mark had named Rungrit as his best friend.  I checked with Mark to be sure he hadn’t just randomly written down a name to get the work over with.  He assured me that he did mean it, that Rungrit was his best friend.

At the school’s Christmas Program, I expressed my observations and concerns to the “Mother in Charge” at Rungrit’s home.  She assured me that English was his favorite subject.  I also caught up to Rungrit in an isolated moment in the hallway.  I asked him to join the group of students I give extra help to on Mondays.  He was happy to do that.  I also told him that Mark had named him as his best friend in his autobiography.

After the break for Christmas and New Years, I noticed a positive change in Rungrit’s attitude.  He showed up right away for the Monday group and his participation in class activities was better.  Then, when I had the 5th grade get into groups one day, I saw Rungrit go right over and join Mark.  They worked together well.

The timing and classes never came together for me to get the class to finish their second and final drafts of those autobiographies.  As I put them away for the last time, though, I decided that the activity had served a greater purpose than the one I had intended when we started it.

:J