Why You Never Assign a Disciplinary Essay to a Kid Who Likes to Write

Wayyyyyyy back in 7th or 8th grade I got into trouble with my math teacher for passing notes in class.

Well sir, he assigned me a 500 word essay that night. Ahhh! Little did he know that I was already prepared for just such an occasion as that! ^_~

Have you ever heard The Bricklayer's Song/Why Paddy's Not At Work Today? Well, what I did was put this song down as an essay and rather than just copy the lyrics I turned it into a short story. The next day I handed it in and, as my math teacher said, he usually just tore it up right in front of the student but... something about it caused him to start reading it. (Now, keep in mind that he wasn't familiar with the song.) He read it through to the end, which was a bit over 500 words, and he called me up to his desk, and that's when he explained to me about his usual procedure with disciplinary essays and how this one was so good that not only did he read it, but he graded it, as well (he doubled as an English teacher, by the way).

I got an A+ on that 500 word essay and he gave it back to me to keep (heh!) for the next time -- rewritten, of course, thanks to that big ol' red A+ on it!

What got me thinking (and blogging) about this was because a friend of mine sent the song to me through email, and here's the song.

The Bricklayer's Song as performed by The Dubliners:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx7aoEBtPXA

And... this is why you don't assign disciplinary essays to a kid who likes to write. ^_~