Opinion
Education Opinion

Two Seconds

By Tamara Fisher — March 07, 2012 2 min read
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Sometimes it’s those two second moments with our students that light the day, demonstrate evidence of progress, and cause us to pause as we catch an insight through their eyes...

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Euclid is a gifted 1st grade boy that I work with. When I went into his classroom to get him recently, his class had a substitute, so I paused to let the sub know that I was taking him and when he’d be back. Euclid then said to the sub, “I go with her so that I don’t always get things in like two seconds.” The sub, who happens to be the mother of another of my students, looked at me and grinned :D

As we entered the hallway, Euclid turned to me and said, “I told her that so she would understand what this is all about.” Great idea, lil’ Euclid :o) It’s always helpful to offer others the chance to understand what we do and why!

He was wearing this shirt that day:

I chuckled while reading it and he said, “It’s all just in fun.”

(pause)

“Oh, but did you read the last one?” he asked. “That part was actually true sometimes.”

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Overheard in my classroom recently, one student talking to another student: “I think so much more in this class that I find I end up being more absent-minded about the little things in here.”

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Questions posed to me by Binary (8th grader) this year:

“Was Dr. Frankenstein a chemist or a biologist?”

“May I use your desk as a radio wave insulator?”

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I had a conversation with a fourth grader the other day and was asking her about her Spelling words. Having spent a little time in her classroom, I’d noticed that the kids took a pre-test on the list and, for whichever of those words they spelled correctly on the pre-test, they got to pick new words from a “shopping list.” But the shopping list words didn’t seem that much more challenging to me.

Marianne agreed and said, “Yeah, I was still getting 100%'s on the final tests, too, and not needing to study the shopping list words much, either. But then Mrs. Shazam started pre-testing me on the shopping list words, also, and she found a bunch of 7th grade words that I could pick from instead.”

I asked her if the words from this “alternative alternative” were more challenging and she enthusiastically agreed, “Yes, I have to study now!” I asked how she was doing on her spelling tests now and she said, “Well, I’m still usually getting 100%'s, but I have to work for them now.” I asked her which 100%'s were more satisfying, the piece-of-cake ones, or the ones she had to work for. “Oh, the ones I have to study for!” she said with a huge smile. “I’m learning new words, now.” :D

Some kids will need an alternative alternative!

The opinions expressed in Unwrapping the Gifted are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.