Name__________________________________________Date______________________
Reading Comprehension
Volume 5, Number 9, November 1, 1999
www.rhlschool.com
Jill Carmer was the
first student to walk through the classroom door.
“Good
morning, my flower,” Mr. El said as he finished writing the
morning assignments on the board for his fourth graders. He was
especially fond of Jill. She had a lot of qualities, Mr. El’s
favorite being that she always laughed at all his jokes.
“Mr.
El, I like your blue jeans. You look cool!” Jill said as she
took her seat.
Before
Mr. El could acknowledge the compliment, Tommy and Alex Howard, the
twins, walked in. “Cool jeans, Mr. El,” Alex
announced.
Soon
the rest of the class was streaming in, and a chorus of similar
comments could be heard.
“Thank
you, thank you,” Mr. El said to the class. “I'm
glad you guys like my new jeans. I wear Levi’s jeans almost
every day and this is the first time anybody has even
noticed.”
Angela
Williams, the self-appointed fashion expert of the class, raised her
hand and spoke without waiting to be called on.
“That’s because all the other jeans you wear are
brown, black, green, tan, or gray.”
David
Tyler waved both hands furiously until the teacher pointed at him.
“You see, Mr. El, you’re wearing blue jeans, just
like a real person.”
“Thank
you, David” Mr. El responded and then addressed the entire
class. “Does it really matter what color denim jeans are?
Think about it and we’ll discuss the matter later.”
Mr.
El took the roll call quickly and was pleased to find that no one was
absent. This was that annoying day of the week when he had to get his
kids to their gym class first thing in the morning.
The
class walked down the long hallway to the gym with Mr. El at the end of
the line. He opened the door to the faculty room as he watched the last
child in line disappear into the gym. Miss Joan was the only person in
the room.
“Mr.
El, what kind of field trip are you taking?” she asked.
“What
field trip?”
“You’re
wearing jeans. Isn’t that a little unusual?”
“I
wear jeans all the time. These just happen to be blue.”
At
that moment, Mr Kay, the principal, walked into the room. He glanced at
Mr. El who was still standing by the door. “Hmmm,”
he said as he walked over to the refrigerator that stood in the far
corner of the room. He placed his brown paper lunch bag into it and
walked back toward the door. “How are you people this
morning?” he asked, and walked out before anyone could reply.
“Those
are very nice jeans,” Miss Joan continued, “but
aren’t they a little, shall we say, undignified for a
professional position?” Before Mr. El could respond, she
added, “Not that I mean to suggest that you ever are
dignified.”
Mr.
El smiled. He would have been disappointed if Miss Joan had not made
the latter remark. “How come you haven’t made any
comments all the other times I wore different color jeans?”
“I
hadn’t noticed. Besides, they weren’t blue
jeans.”
“They
were the same brand, the same style, the same material. No one noticed,
no one cared.”
Miss
Joan sighed, “I get the feeling you’re trying to
make some profound point.”
Mr.
El sat down at the long table that practically went from one end of the
room to the other. “My point,” he said, “
is that humans are a strange species. They tend to put a lot of
importance on unimportant differences.”
Miss
Joan smiled. “That’s true,” she replied.
“But there are times when you have to pretend to be a human
if you want to live successfully among them.”
To Write About or Discuss:
1. What was the same about the way Mr. El's students and Miss Joan reacted to the blue jeans?
2. What was different about the way Miss Joan and the students reacted?
3. Does it matter if jeans are blue instead of some other color? Should it matter?
Note: This week's Research Skills issue can be used as a vocabulary introduction to this story.
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