Oh my gosh... my english teacher is so not fair!

[Sminty_Smeagol]

She's only going to give me 10 reading points for the silmarillion (after I do 2 projects on it) just because it's not on the list of book tests on the computer. I got 27 points for each LOTR book. Who thinks this isn't fair? ??? PLUS I didn't have to do a book project on LOTR (not to mention TWO). So I'm doing more work than is fair and getting awarded with a portion of the reading points.

How many points in this system Silmarillion should have if each LOTR book has 27?

-~*Smintz

[Rhûnboy]

How many points in this system Silmarillion should have if each LOTR book has 27?

A lot more than 10!

:(

I had bad luck with the Sil in 8th grade. I did it as a book report, and had to fill out some standardized sheet. Where it said: List Main Characters, I had to staple an attachment, because it was essentially half of the people on that friggin' family trees.
Reading that book in 8th grade took days and days.
I got an A-, which isn't a bad grade admittedly, 'cept for insult and indignity, that is, the kid behind me read the first and last page of a Charlie Chaplin biography, filled out HIS sheed during the passing period, tossed that in and got an A.

I was livid.

:mad:

I hope you can talk some sanity into your teacher.

~ Connor

PS. A practical suggestion. This is something I'd do with my teachers in this situation, and it'd often work. Print out copies of prominent reviews of the Silmarillion (I'm talking New York Times, or Newsweek, or something). Most of them will review it vis a vis LotR and talk about the complexity of the narrative. You can petition your teacher for more points, by showing her that legitimate sources recognize the difficulty and importance of the piece. It might not work. On the other hand, if her mistake is an assumption that the Silmarillion is not on the list because it is a more cursory or less important work, you might get her to change her mind.

Best of luck!

[Lizra]

Ah! But you get 50 points from Sister Golden Hair and others from Entmoot! :) Let's have a book report :D What are your projects? How about a list of twenty characters and all the names they went by, or an explanation of the musical creation story.

[Sminty_Smeagol]

Ha! Thanks for the help, I should try it. However, she seemed familiar with it (I don't think she's read it, she doesn't read much), and she's one stubborn strict woman.

I wish I could do something interesting like show her my 20 notesi took on the ainur and history of Arda (which would be great if we could just prove we read it like we do with the tests), but she has her own little list of "creative" "fun" projects, I.E. the one I have done - sculpting 3 models out of clay of important objects (I did the chains of melko, the rings of power, and the two trees of valinor which bent and got all deformeed when I baked them in the oven). There are some dumb things like writing poetry and stuff. But I WILL NOT SUBMIT! I think it is stupid and I think I shall just read what I like and not do AR projects because I do not believe in putting that amount of effort in to come up with points a portion of what it is worth, while anybody reading any ol' book can get just as many by doing the same projects and people with easy "Accelerated (sp?) Reader" (<- yeah right!) books on the AR list can just take a test and get many more points.

Unless, of course, I can get her to change her mind, which I don't think I will be able to do since she is a silly nutcase who has been teaching for like 7 years.

-~*Smintz

PS- I am aware I have repeted some of the same points like 5 times in these 2 posts lol

[Lizra]

wow! sculpting things out of clay and writing poetry sound fabulous to me! :), I'd love to do it, Will you do my grocery shopping and laundry? Sculpt a famous sword, or Beren's hand, oooh, how about Ungoliant!!!

[Sminty_Smeagol]

er... okay... some of the projects are incredibly stupid though... but oh well

[Khadrane]

My friend took a computer test on The Silmarillion and got twenty points. Ten points is a total rip off.

P.S. I hate AR with all my soul and being. Luckily, I'm in 9th grade now and I don't have to put up with it anymore.:)

[GandalfTheWhite]

your lucky that reading the sil or lotr counts for school at all, i read tolkien for pleasure and still have to read other books for school!

[ArwenEvenstar]

my english teacher this year is alot better then the one last year!!! she has more books in her class then the freaking library in the school! and most of them are pretty good! i haven't brought up tolkien yet but i think she'd say maybe.

[Sminty_Smeagol]

We dont' haev a test for the SIl at my school... jhust LOTR.

I talked to her today and she said if I prove her I read it (she said showing her my notes i took would work) would get me some AR points. She has not read it and said she knows it's worth a lot but she needs my help to assign a point value to it.

If Each lotr book was 25-30 pts, how much would you say the silm is worth?

-~*Smintz

[Lanelf]

Oh Sminty I so get your annoyance!
We had a "Wide Reading " thing to do at school and it was full of books every one thinner than Harry Potter's book 1 (which was on the list - no Hobbit though) and my teacher wouldn't let me wide read the Sil, or Lotr, or the Hobbit, or ANYTHING INTERESTING!
Not that Harry Potter's boring, I've read it and liked it too, but I wanted to do the Sil!!! :(:(:(:mad: :mad: :mad:
Lanelf

[Renille]

That's crazy. Has the teacher even READ the Sil? Ten points OR an A- is unfair.
The only LOTR related project I've ever done was a comparison between LOTR and the Odyssey. I got an A for accelerated thinking...:)

[Sminty_Smeagol]

I need something to suggest and soon! This is the first year my english teacher has had to deal with non-AR books and she admits to not knowing what she's doing. And no she has not read the Silm. or the Histories. She said I could probably just tell her I read it and she'd believe me but she said then the same rule would have to apply to everyone in my class, and many people are not trustworthy (in fact some are quite opposite LOL) Today I gave her some of my notes I took and she said that would probably do it, but she needs a consistent routine so people can prove they read it.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thankyou for your consideration!

-~*Smintz*~-

PS- any suggestions for number of AR points to be awarded for sil?

[Millane]

i would love to be able to read any tolkien books at school. at school they just make us read crappy books and shakespeare plays. but i can see where you are coming from i know the silmarillion is a very complex book and you should get a fair bit more than 10 points.

[Lefty Scaevola]

I do not believe that one of the lessons from the S or LOTR is that life is fair. More like:

"Life's a B****, then you become a disimbodied wraith subject to and tortured by a great malevolent power."
:eek:

That is unless you take repsosiblilty for yourself are the world, making moral choices to drive back evil.

[markedel]

Are they points for reading difficulty? Because if so then I'd double the point value. Of course it's very subjective. How does one define the difficulty of a work?