I have often thought that after teaching for as long as I have, it would be fun to put together a book of funny things that have happened to me. Alas, I never get around to it. However, I had to record this one because it made my day.
My class and I rearranged our schedule today due to a district test. We took the test in the morning, but it took up my reading block, so I moved the reading time to the afternoon to replace the subject that the kids had just tested on. The topic of the lesson was identifying important information and "tracking" as we call it. I scaffold the lesson so that we worked on the technique together as a whole, then they worked in tables, and then at last they finished the article on their own. The subject of the article was salmon runs and how in some places the events are often interrupted because humans have put up obstacles along the way and the end result is mass deaths of salmon that are unable to spawn. I had given the assignment to the student groups to "track" the information in the article in the assigned sections. One group I needed to help because they have a few members that like to talk about all things non-school related if left to their own devices (but I have to admit, I was like that when I was in school).
As the group and I go through the section the following conversation ensues:
Student 1: Mrs. H, it's still bothering me that 64,000 salmon died. I mean, what caused it?
Me: I don't know, but like we said earlier, it had to be pretty bad for that many fish to die.
Student 2: I think it's because the dam was built to help the strawberry and cotton farmers. (Student 2 showed us where they'd found the information).
Me: That's great! I like that you supported your answer with the proof.
Student 1: But, I mean, why'd they all just DIE!? That's just weird.
Me: I don't know sweetheart, but let's finish reading this section.
Student 1: But why do they just die?
Me: Well, they've reached the end of their life cycle, so they die.
Student 1: But how? (Keep in mind, he's really serious. He can't move on until he's figured this out).
Me: Well, they've hatched from their eggs and gone through their life cycle in the ocean. They return to the spot where they were born and then they lay their eggs and die.
Student 1: But what happens if they don't get to the pond?
Me: They die before they can lay the eggs.
Student 1: What happens to the eggs?
Me: They don't get laid, so they don't hatch.
Student 1: Do they go to Heaven?
Me: Well, sweetheart, I know what I think, but that might be different than what you think.
Student 1: I think they go to Heaven to be with God.
Me: Then that's what happens.
Student 1: So, they go to Heaven with their parents?
Me: (I could explain that they haven't been born yet, but that would open up a whole new can of worms)....I guess that would be right, if that's what you believe.
Student 1: Okay. So I think this section is about the Relay race that they run....
And we finish the section with no other "Let's Ponder Life" Moments.
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