Zoe’s Poster

Homework and the Line Between Helping and Doing

By Mildred Alpern

For 30 years, I was an advanced-placement high school history teacher. So it came as a bit of a surprise to be completely undone by my 6th grade granddaughter’s history assignment.

I was flattered when my granddaughter, Zoe, asked me to help her with her history project. And, of course, I leapt at the chance. After all, I’d spent most of my adult life teaching students how to do research. Some may remember when research meant threading microfilm spools on machine axles and hoping to catch your article as it sped by. Zoe would be spared all that. With this generation’s push-button access to worlds of information, the project would be a romp. Besides, we had a week.

The instructions were: In sets of three, find U.S. and global headlines published on your birthdate and famous persons (both living and dead) and historical events sharing your birthday. Note how life was different in your birth year. Include explanatory text and illustrations on a 2-by-3-foot poster. Careful research, neatness,...