My son has no idea about this question his teacher gave them. He is to compare the communities in each book. Anyone have any ideas? I've read Poppy, but not the other. Just another example of BAD TEACHING. What's the point of homework if you don't give children the tools to do it?
Is this for Truesight by Stahler and Poppy by Avi? Maybe try comparing the different character's traits in the two stories. Look at the roles of challenging unjust authority or dealing with injustice in the community. Maybe look at the character's journeys as they move from obedient to more thoughtful and developing a belief in their self while opening their eyes to the truth in their own backyard.
Why assume that this is "bad teaching" or that the teacher failed to provide adequate instructions or tools to complete the assignment? Of course, that's possible (and perhaps there's history to support this assumption), but in my experience (not just in the classroom, but also with my own honor student) it's much more likely that the student has failed to share (perhaps failed to record, or even failed to listen to) the complete instructions that were given, or the full context. The only information we have is the parent's report of how the student described what the teacher assigned. Might there be another way to determine what the assignment really is? The parent describes the prompt as "to compare the communities in each book." (This sounds quite different from discussing or comparing "individuals' character traits," though there's surely some overlap.) I haven't read either book, but Amazon describes the community in TrueSight as "a colony established on a distant planet by an association of blind people," and the community in Poppy is apparently a group of mice cowering in fear of a dictatorial and hypocritical "protector" owl. It sounds as if the protagonist in each story seeks to reveal unfairness, hypocrisy, dishonesty & deception which the "community" has refused to see (yes, literally, in the first book). What's actually missing from the description of the assignment is the actual work product sought: a list of similarities and differences? a list of common themes? a venn diagram? a five-paragraph essay? Or maybe it's a short-answer question -- or even a question that (in the context of the assignment) could properly be answered with a single word ("hypocrisy," "intentional blindness," "conformity," "misplaced trust in authority"). Teaching resources for Avi's Poppy: http://www.lessonindex.com/Poppy_by_Avi.htm
BAD TEACHING! Homework is not meant to teach new concepts. It does serve to teach children to hate school. Read the Homework Myth.
Why do you assume this is 'new concepts'? It's totally possible these themes were discussed in class.
My thoughts exactly. How many times have I gotten notes from parents saying that their children were not able to do the homework because they didn't have the complete explanations? Well, they would have if they had been paying attention in class! Then you ask the student why they didn't explain what we were learning in class, and you get the shoulder shrug. Frustrating!!
