Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?

Last week I gave my 6th graders a make-up test on telling time.  They'd flubbed up the test on it the week before, and a re-test was in order.  I was hoping it wasn't my teaching.  When the majority of the class doesn't do well, you can question your teaching.

During a review session, I started to wonder if these kids actually knew how to tell time.  Like, on a clock or watch with hands. 

So in addition to the classic "Write the time" exercise, where they had to write out "It's three o'clock" or "It's quarter past two," I gave them an exercise where they had to draw the hands on a blank clock.  The time was indicated underneath the clock like this:  5:45. 

Easy peasy, right? 

Not. For. Them.   

Apparently some of these kids have never mastered the whole "let's tell time with a  real clock" thing.  If I had a scanner (I'd scanner in the morning...uh...never mind) I'd scan some of their work so that you could see it. 

As it was I was going to insert a clock image to give you an example of their time-telling folly, but for some reason my computer is a little hinky, and I can't edit the image the right way.  So you'll just have to imagine a clock that reads 2:40, and then imagine correcting a test which labels that as "It's forty to three." 

The part of the test where they were supposed to draw the hands on the clock was supposed to help them get a good grade.  How hard can it be to draw 3:30? 

Aw, hell, never mind.  This wasn't what I had intended to blog about, anyway. 

All I have to say is this, and it applies to ALL levels:   Teach your children well.  Teach them manners, teach them that they can't have everything RIGHT NOW, teach them to respect their elders, teach them kindness toward others, teach them that foul language is not for every minute of every day, teach them to use their noggins, teach them how to cook, teach them to love the outdoors, and....[add your own thoughts]

And for God's sake, teach them how to tell time on a regular (read: old-fashioned) clock! 

Comments

[Allan]

If I had a scanner (I'd scanner in the morning...uh...never mind)

LOL.

As for the rest of it, I blame it all on the invention of the calculator.

Damn you, TI! Damn you, Hewlett Packard!

[/neo-luddite]

[Geoffrey]

For sure - My 8 year old: Dan the Man; cannot tell the time on a regular clock!!!
And he really doesn't want to know how either!!
He couldn't be bothered at all!
His world is digital.

[Thomas]

I find it funny to see a kid confronted with using a rotary dial phone.

"These buttons don't work..."

I wonder if you can get a rotary dial cellphone? Perhaps it could be marketed for the Amish!

[Daisy]

If I had a scanner (I'd scanner in the morning...uh...never mind)

Ditto the LOL. Are we all showing our age?

[ALR]

My mom, a fifth-grade teacher, encounters this ALL the time. (And this is *in addition* to the children who can't read or write cursive.) .:groan:.

Hang in there!