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The New Mexico grasshopper and ant story
© 2009 Michael Swickard, Ph.D.
“A grasshopper spent his summer playing while the ant worked storing food for winter. When winter came, the hungry grasshopper went to the ant for food but was refused.” – Aesop Fable
The other day I heard a New Mexico version of the Aesop fable about the grasshopper and the ant. It was told by a first grader who scores low on accountability tests but tells stories well. It makes me wonder if the accountability tests really work. Can the very best students on the accountability tests tell as good a story as the one this student told?
I was in the classroom to fix a balky computer that was not running the software I provide to help students consolidate the skills necessary to read and do fundamental math. I was there at story time because I need to work on the computers when the students are not on the computers.
The first graders were all on the carpet at the front of the classroom for story time. The teacher read the grasshopper and ant story from Aesop and they all discussed what was happening and what was likely to happen next. The learning moment for the students was for them to take a story as it is read and internalize it such that there is transference in learning to things they know.
One of the students was in constant motion. The teacher struggled to keep this student quiet and focused on the task at hand. This student really likes the Star Wars movies, which are much more dynamic than sitting for what seems like forever there in first grade. It was obvious that this student wanted to talk about Star Wars, which was usually what he did.
The first grade teacher was kind and patient with the student but I heard his name several times in the course of the story. He was repeatedly told to pay attention and quiet down. Understand it is obvious he was not trying to be disruptive; rather, he had lots on his mind. This is why he scores low on tests; he does not focus well with the other, more dynamic thoughts in his head.
The teacher put him on the software I provide to help him consolidate that he has been taught but cannot demonstrate on tests. The tests show him not doing well in school but the teacher knows he has lots of talents not reflected by the tests.
The two grandmas and the green chile
This week ends the two weeks of testing and the six months preparing for the tests in the New Mexico public schools. What will we, as a society, know after we get the results? Perhaps what we will know the most is that our approach to public education is getting worse, not better. It was demonstrated to me when the student retold the fable.
He said that the Grasshopper and Ant story was really a New Mexico story. “I have two grandmas. When it was chile season last summer one grandma worked real hard. She went and got the chile and roasted it. Then she peeled it and put it in bags and frozed (his word) it. She told my other grandma she should do the chile now but that grandma said no she would be able to get it later and she wouldn’t listen. Then it was winter and that grandma was trying to get some of that good, fresh green chile and she couldn’t get any.”
All of the kids nodded, getting the message. I was very impressed. As far as the state and the national leaders think, this student is not doing well, but he takes what he hears and puts it in New Mexico terms.
In fact, what I really see is that there should be a movie deal in there somewhere for that kid. And the movie could be a New Mexico version of Star Wars. Stay tuned.
Swickard is a weekly columnist for this site. You can reach him at michael@swickard.com.
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Personalizing the education experience for one kid? Respecting diversity and it’s contributions? Understanding that there’s more than one way to show you are intelligent?
I don’t know. That sounds dangerously close to being a “liberal” idea, Michael.
That was an excellent story Michael, and one that we should all take heed to. I remember reading in one of my college classes about observation and learning being in the eye of the beholder and where he is at a particular time.
For example four people see a robbery in progress and observe. One is standing on the each corner of the block. From each angle they all saw what appeared to be a little different when their observations were told the investigator. The same holds true for what people hear and learn from each episode of an event.
To say that one did not pay close attention is not true. They just interpreted what their eyes saw from their angle and what their minds absorbed from the narration of an event. There is no such thing as a stupid child, only stupid people who do the teaching and set the standards by which each child is governed.
Doyle Pruitt
Michael – great story! The good “Ole Book” says: “and the children will show them the way!”
Let me just say that sometimes we place to much pressure on our students to perform. Not all individuals are college bound. Testing can also be biased…culturally, socially, economicly,racial,etc. We need to relax and understand that there is no normal. To those students who passed…congratulations! To those who did not…don’t bet yourselves. Remember, successful men and women were not great academic students. We all must continue to encourage and challenge our youth that it is possible to attain your goals. Hard work and determination is at times more important that academic achievement. You may be the smartest and brightest, but if you do not have the personal drive and willingness to put long hours, day and night you will not succeed. (with a college degree(s)…I still need a spell-check!)