One of my favorite questions to ask is, "Would you rather be blind or deaf?" don't know which I would rather, personally. I have seen some pretty magnificent sights in my day, and I wouldn't want to miss that, but think of all the sounds you would miss out on if you were deaf: music, birds, ocean waves, babies' laughter. I'd miss the respite of a quiet evening after a loud day.
On their most recent quiz, I asked my fifth graders a question along the same lines, but this time, I gave them space to explain themselves: "If you could make one of your senses 1,000 times stronger than it already is, which would you choose? Why?" I asked it to find out if they knew their five senses, and I asked it to find out a little more about them, and I asked it because I really hoped someone would write something that would make me laugh. What I got was completely unexpected.
A sampling of student responses (with spelling/grammar corrections):
"I would choose sight, so if I ever got lost, I could see all the way home."
"Hearing, so I can hear if people whisper things about me."
"Seeing because I would not have to go to the eye doctor."
"Hearing because I could listen to someone whispering about me."
"I would choose taste because there are so many wonderful things to taste."
"Hearing, so that I can hear if someone is after me."
"I would choose tasting, so I could know what they put in it, so I could make it myself."
"My sight because I could see if trouble is near, plus I don't have the best eye sight."
"I would want to increase my smell because if I went blind, I would still have my smell to resort to."
"Hearing because I would be able to hear someone sneaking up on me and everything else around me."
"It would be taste, so that yummy foods taste even better."
"I would want to make my seeing better because I could see what is happening before I go out to the place I'm looking at, in case there is something wrong."
"I would choose none because what use would I have for a super sense? I would feel more pain, see bad things, hear bad news, smell terrible things, or even taste something weird."
"I would choose smell because I could find food more easily."
"I would choose hearing because I would be able to hear a gunshot and duck before they got to me."
"I would make my hearing better so I could know if someone is making fun of me by listening in."
I never expected anxiety to play such a huge part in the answering of that question. I never expected my students to be so trapped by fear and worry. Since when did ten year olds become so pessimistic? So scared? Was I like that?
My surprise has answered my own question for me clearly: I need stronger hearing to listen to my students better.
What would you choose?
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