Christina Land kept the log for our class this week. Click below to read her comments and give her a big "hello!"
"Only the curious will learn and only the resolute will overcome the obstacles to learning. The quest quotient has always excited me more than the intelligence quotient."
Edmund S. Wilson
3 comments:
OBSERVATIONS ON AN EARTHLING “TEACHER CADETS” CLASS
Cumquat 87349, Martian Explorer
Day 1: Monday, October 2, 2006
The subjects began by discussing plans for a “Barrier Project.” It is possible that they have been alerted to our presence here and are making plans for the construction of a blockade to prevent further expeditions. The earthling leader told the cadets that they were to create books, skits, and other media concerning barriers to learning. I suggest that they intend to prevent the gathering of information by our research teams by attempting to afflict us with such barriers as depression, sleep deprivation, drugs, and so forth. The subjects went on to discuss a labor agreement called “contract hours.” The leader told them that they had until the eighteenth day of their earth-month to complete ten hours of service. The earthling called Jatana presented a summary of the events from the previous seven rotations of the Earth. Finally, the following earthlings briefed the class on the effects of several learning barriers. The ones called Bethany and Michael briefed the cadets on a devastating weapon called sleep deprivation. Jon, Kate, and Allison presented information about substance abuse. Gayle and Jessi talked about death, dying, and grief. Anthony and Jatana discussed child abuse. Then, a bell rang, and the earthlings evacuated the classroom.
Day 2: Tuesday, October 3, 2006
A new earthling called Alyssa came into the class this morning. I think she must be a very important earthling, because the subjects were very careful to introduce themselves and to see that the new one could find her way around the school. The earthlings then discussed their plans to visit other earthling schools and observe the students and teachers there. Afterward, they continued their briefing on barriers to learning. Christina and Jin Mei presented on depression and suicidal tendencies, Megan and Heather on latchkey children, and Erin, Viviana, and Stacey on eating disorders. Toward the end of class, the leader passed out copies of a book called The Acorn People to the cadets.
Day 3: Wednesday, October 4, 2006
The earthlings performed strange rituals today. They brought pillows and blankets to school! This was a great surprise, because it seemed that one of the most important techniques of the school leaders to ensure learning was to keep the students cold and to make them sit on hard seats. The leader of the cadets is very unorthodox at times, but the students seem pleased with this. They built a fortification out of several desks and a large blanket. Some of the earthlings stationed themselves within this fortification, while others spread out throughout the room, wrapped in their blankets. They spent the entire class period reading their books. It seemed to improve the cadets’ morale greatly.
Day 4: Thursday, October 5, 2006
Today, the earthlings exercised creativity in reflecting on the previous day’s reading. Rather than write a paper, as is the most common reflection activity in earthling secondary schools, they made a sort of paper wheels with pictures and descriptions of the characters and of their favorite scenes in the book.
Day 5: Friday, October 6, 2006
This morning, the earthlings spent part of class completing their reflection wheels. After this, they did an activity to practice identifying categories of special education. They received cards, each of which showed the name of a child and a description of the symptoms of that child’s disability. The earthlings were able to successfully identify the children’s disabilities. These “teacher cadets” are a formidable group of earthlings. I recommend that we keep them under close and careful observation.
Only the curious will learn and only the resolute will overcome the obstacles to learning. The quest quotient has always excited me more than the intelligence quotient.
Edmund S. Wilson
Christina, This has got to be one of the best observations EVER! Kumquat!!! Yay!
Question (to anyone): Which is funner to say? Parhana or Kumquat?
Erin - Definitly Kumquat!
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