Thoreau

While first reading the quote, "Sometimes we are inclined to class those who are once and a half witted with the half witted, because we appreciate only a third of their wit," I was very confused. When we were told to choose on a scale of 1-10 what we thought our understanding was, I gave myself a 4. I was thrown off by the repeated use of the word wit, and hearing the "one-and-a-half" and "half witted" really threw me off. It took me about five times to read this quote before I felt more confident that I in fact might know what it meant. My understanding of the quote was that maybe we are inclined to teach those who are sometimes "witted" or in other words those students that we know have the potential but do not always apply themselves. When those students try and show that they are making an effort and the light bulb really turned on for them then it is those times and moments that we really enjoy teaching them. It was then that I rated myself a 6 in understanding. Next, we were told to join groups. My partner and I came to the conclusion that we had a pretty similar understanding of the quote. We agreed with the author because although we are both not teachers yet, we both had experiences working with children. Personally, I have worked at a summer camp and taught swimming lessons to children and although many of them often became frustrated and wanted to give up, when they finally got the hang of it they felt great about themselves. It is those teaching moments when we feel good for what we do. Overall, I think that my understanding and confidence in the quote became a 7-8. The cool thing about this experience was that a lot of people saw and concluded something different while they read this, but that is the beauty in English, there can usually always be more than one answer.