Homework

The State of the Union is tonight.  The kids were thrilled when they heard their assignment for Social Studies today is watching it and taking notes.  (bit of sarcasm)  I'm trying to create essay questions for them to answer tomorrow regarding the speech.  They love that.  (another bit) There's a small part of me that wants to toss the assignment out the window because they're giving me puppy eyes; but only a small part.

The other part of me wants to teach them how to listen well and carefully weigh the words they hear.  We watched Obama's inauguration and all they remember about that is Aretha Franklin's bountiful bow.  Clearly that school assignment was a "huge" success.  Maybe they won't remember specifics of what our president has to say tonight, but I hope listening adds a layer to the foundation we're trying to build in their brains to process everything; every message...