  Now, when I was in third grade, I was one of these kids. The "like this? " kid, who never wanted to get it wrong.
Who desperately studied the teacher model, wanting to make mine just like hers . As a teacher, I can't stand these kids. They drive me crazy and I often find my self putting off starting projects I know will cause these kids to jump into "like this? " mode. I want to tell my students who are so concerned with "getting it right" to just relax.
You are in third grade! If you can't mess up now, when can you? No one wants to see 25 identical art projects posted outside the classroom. It's the mistakes, the quirks, that make a third grade project special--something Mom is going to want to keep in a box in the attic. Explaining this to a third grader would be like explaining quantum physics. They would all nod their heads, agree with me and then say "So, like this, right?
" 
