Back in Time

Let's go back in time 23 years to 1987, when I was a 7th grade student at St. Vincent De Paul School in Stirling, New Jersey. The assignment was to read a science fiction novel and write a book report about it, using a structure of a Q & A, summary, and opinion sections. 

I fudged the entire thing and still got an A.

This is my book report about the movie Back to the Future. 

Please click on photos to enlarge them to readable size.

 

 

Well, then.

My Report about My Science Fiction Book Report

by Colleen Kane

May 17, 2010

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

1. Did I read the entire book? / Obviously not.
2. Did I deserve the grade of A? / No.
3. How much text of this report is devoted to simply running down the characters of the movie/book? / Seven out of the ten questions and an additional sentence or two of the summary.
4. What are some other ways you can tell I didn't give this assignment my all?/ I forgot to include the bibliography and answer # 10 until that day at school, then wrote them in with pen.
5. Is there racially charged wording in the opinion section? / Yes, but chalk it up to naivete.
6. How is the world of 2010 different from the world of 1987? / Back then, teens wore puffy vests that looked like life preservers and used colloquialisms such as "heavy." Now they wear checkered Vans and use colloquialisms such as "rad."
7. Did I write an entire book report about a movie, and then all but spell out that fact to the teacher in the opinion section?  / Yes.
8. Did I get the best education available by attending St. Vincent de Paul school? / No.

SUMMARY

If memory serves, I didn't finish reading this book in time for the due date. I may have read the first few chapters and flipped through the rest. 

OPINION

The teacher probably gave me an A because I was a sweet bookworm and drew a cute cover. Thinking back, I probably skated by this way a lot in school. But she did a disservice by giving me a grade I didn't deserve. The adult me of 2010 would not want to spend X thousands of tuition dollars sending my kid to a private school and then discover they weren't being challenged and graded with a critical eye. There may have been a grading curve in effect, too, because this report was still probably much better than some of my classmates' in our 7th grade of less than 20. Some of them were, how do you say, not so sharp. It must be difficult to teach a class of such varying abilities, but I think one lesson learned by going back in time to 1987 is to group students by ability.

Comments

[Kevin]

"Biff Tannen is, to sum it up in one word, a bully."

"...I saw the movie three times and will again and again"

You didn't need a Delorean to get that right. I just watched it again when it came on two weeks ago.

[Alicia]

Well typed!

[Jack Long]

Nice Cover!

[I Need Money Desperately]

wow. You still have this after 23 years? Cool man! This is classic.

[MeanieT]

I think I've given an "A" for similar reasons. :)

[Kat Bride]

Hi! Another Gillette friend told me about your blog. Colleen, I attended St. Vincent's starting in Kindergarden when you were in 8th grade. We rode the bus together and I thought you were so sweet and pretty! It's true that SVdP education standards weren't perfect at the time. My parents were recently honored by Msgr. Brown at the endowment dinner and speaking from the old-school parents perspective, they mentioned how often rumours would fly about the school closing and how happy they were to see the school improve so the younger families could reap the benefits. I wonder how many casino nights and breakfasts with Santa they had to volunteer with before winning the award. I left SVdP to attend Villa Walsh in Morristown but return when I visit from NYC. Also, was your teacher Leigh Alderton?

[Colleen Kane]

Thanks all!
Kat! Ahh, Breakfast with Santa and Casino Fun Nite. I can't believe you remember me from that long ago, and so nicely at that! Considering my criticism in the post above, I think I'll defer commenting on whether that teacher was Mrs. A or not, but I did find her to be a lovely lady. Thanks for reading and I hope to have loads more writing to share very soon.