Are YOU Smarter Than A 5th Grader?

Instead of falling in to the widespread Harry Potter madness (I coin it insanity...), I figured that I might write a short late night post to discuss something else. First and foremost, Idon't plan to go within ten feet of the new Harry Potter book. Seriously. I read the first one (was ok..), read the second one (hated it...) and saw the last couple of movies in theatre (meh..). So rather than fall victim to the HP craze, I plan to stay very far away.

On the other hand, I plan to carry HP books as reading material in my classroom. My students enjoy reading them and the fact that the writing is extraordinarily creative keeps my students engaged in the reading. Perhaps its the fact that I can't understand how adults can go so crazy over a book that seems to be meant for....well I will come out and say it......KIDS! Sure adults can read kids books. I mean, if you have a kid, you might read to them before bed time and actually get into the book as much as they do. But C'mon...!! Parties?? And I mean not only parties, but COSTUME parties? However, as I write this, I think back to the days when Star Wars was big (and Star Trek... :) ). Of course I wasn't old enough to be part of the craze, or to vividly recall it, but you can be reminded often enough by popular culture (Simpsons anyone?). A series that was seemingly for the Sci-Fi frenzied teenager engulfed people from ages 12 to 80. Thus, the phrase "Catch the Wave" seems to apply perfectly here in the case of HP - but its a wave that I will surely be ducking... :)

On a separate note, I caught tonight's episode of Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? I have to say that I really enjoy that show for a couple of reasons. First, this past year I taught Grade 5 and to see the "class" sitting there brings back memories of your prize students (I'm sure discipline problems are few and far between on this show *snickers*). Second, as I'm reading these questions, I'm thinking to myself that there is no way in hell I could have taught my class this material and not had it go 50 feet over their heads. This isn't to lump everyone in to the same group. I had students who could've excelled at this material. The point is, most of these questions seem a little challenging for your average Grade 5 classroom. I am a Canadian teacher and this is an American game show so perhaps, American teachers challenge their students more than we do. Perhaps American students are growing up to be more intelligent? Perhaps the world is ending...? *grins* I kid....of course this is a debate I won't get into right now because it is much too late and it is a can of worms better left for another day.

If you happen to stumble by this blog, feel free to comment on anything that you read here. I promise to reply! I'm sure it won't catch your eye like The Caffeinated Librarian and her frizzled hair, putting garbage out at 7 am blog (I'm sure we've all done that!), but I enjoy a good discussion about practically anything, or even just reading what you have to say.

So much for poker tonight....bye for now!