Perhaps you’ve seen or heard it recently yourself, but a valid discussion was circling around our campus today about a child’s answers to questions posed by a teacher.  Here are some examples; you decide how best to grade these answers:

• Where was the Declaration of Independence signed?  *At the bottom of the page
• In which battle did General Custer die?  *His last battle
• The Mississippi River flows into which state?  *Liquid state
• What looks like half an apple?  *The other half
• How do you drop a raw egg onto a concrete floor without cracking it?  *Concrete floors are hard to crack.

I think you get the idea, so, how would you grade it?  In teaching, we have to remember that we have literal learners working in a figurative setting at times.  This is especially true during state assessment time.  Personally, I think this learner is brilliant–a real thinker outside the traditional box of knowledge in fact!

Speaking of brilliant, out-of-the-box learners, we will begin our quest to identify gifted and talented learners in MISD in the coming months.  If you wish to nominate a child, please contact our school counselor, Mrs. Christa Stanley, at 972-775-4497 to have a form sent to you.  In the meantime, here’s hoping you treasure those little literal moments with your learner each day; I know we do!