Something every teacher knows...

So every teacher knows that no two students are exactly alike. There will be a vast array of personalities, strengths, weaknesses, challenges, likes, interests, etc. in every class.

In one of our 5th grade lessons the other day, we were supposed to do a little bit of research on either bees or whales and then write a paragraph about how one of those creatures communicates. We ran out of time in class, but I asked the students to write a short paragraph as homework. I want to share an example of the range of student responses, exemplifying their varying levels of comprehension:

Student A:
Worker bees perform what is known as a "waggle dance" where foraging bees return to the hive and dance to indicate to others where the good spots are for collecting pollen and nectar. The dance is quite complicated and determines with relation to the solar angle which direction the other should be heading and approximately how far it is in that direction.

Student B:
The whale and bee talk about language. "How many languages can you speak?" Whale said. "I can speak Chinese, English, French, and Japanese!" Bee said. "Wow, that is so cool! You can teach me!" Whale said. "Wow that is cool, but my mom said not to teach anybody, sorry," Bee said. "That's ok. Good bye Bee!" Whale said. "Good bye, Whale," Bee said.

So Student A probably found those exact words online somewhere, but she understood the assignment. Student B, bless his heart, was creative, but missed the whole point.

So, as usual, I've got my work cut out for me on both ends...

Cheers to all the teachers out there! Keep on keeping on!