Biology class. Special ed. Their assignment was to define the terms on page 286 in their textbook. It was a chapter on Mendel and heredity.
I don't know how many times I said, "Page 286." Many. More than a dozen. And it was parroted by half the class. It was also written on the board. Which I pointed out.
More than half the class worked diligently. A few of them spent more time talking than working. Typical.
I'm not sure why I needed to look at this one boy's paper. Something about the number of terms. There should have been 18. He claimed there were 16. But one of the terms had two words in it, so I went over to investigate.
When I glanced at the boy's paper, something stood out. The terms. Gamete. Zygote. Um, I should be seeing heterozygous and homozygous. There was something wrong here...
"Page 286? You said page 256."
Um, no. He had done the wrong chapter.
Again.
Apparently, this was not the first time he had defined terms from the wrong chapter. The last time the aide had given him credit rather than making him do the correct terms. This time she wasn't so sure.
Someone needs to pay closer attention when instructions are being given. (And it turned out he wasn't the only one.)
Awh. Poor guy. He must have some kind of disability.
ReplyDeleteSome people just have a hard time paying attention.
ReplyDeleteI would shake my head in wonder, but I actually can relate to this. It seems all my life I've been doing the wrong chapter! I always seem to miss fundamental parts of instructions.
ReplyDelete286 and 256 don't even sound close to each other. That would be a hard one; he's working but not working on the assignment given.
ReplyDeletebetty
Which is probably why the IA gave him half credit.
DeleteHmmm Is he figity(sorry spelling), talks over you or interrupts, can be angry/argues? Does he get distracted easily and when actually working gets upset with surrounding noise? This confusion this boy did and then arguing the point reminds me of my hubby who suffers from classic severe ADHD. As for the other people-could be just not listening which is so normal. I had heard that one must repeat something 7 times on average before the other person "hears" you
ReplyDeleteI teach ten year olds who never listen. Ever. I get them to repeat instructions, sing it, dance it, write it down, make a painting of it, okay I exaggerate, but it's like it goes in one ear and out the other. Grrrr.
ReplyDeleteI've done something similar. I'll give instructions and then call on some random student to repeat them back. And still someone doesn't get it...
DeleteI fee bad for this student. It has got to be frustrating to work hard and then find out it was on the wrong thing. Definitely seems that it's part of his learning disability.
ReplyDelete