Samuel H. Scudder, "Take This Fish and Look at It"

Prewriting

For 5 minutes, write on one or more of the following:

1.) Consider why observation skills are necessary for students to grow and learn. In what academic situations are these skills most critical? How do you rate yourself as an observer?

2.) Consider the type of student Scudder was before his episode with the fish. How might he have changed as a student? As a scientist? As a person?

3.) Professor Agassiz says, "A pencil is one of the best of eyes." What does he mean? How and why might this be true?

4.) Scudder says, "I see how little I saw before." Professor Agassiz answers, "That is next best." What does the professor mean? In what ways is this realization a step toward the lesson Scudder learns?

5.) Describe this professor's "teaching methods."

6.) Put yourself in Scudder's place. If you had been him, or if a professor were to do this to you today, what would you think? Do you think it would "work" for you? Why or why not? Would it work better in some classes but not in others? For which classes might it be most effective for you?

7.) This essay was written in 1874, and the writer says that "it was more than fifteen years ago" that this experience took place (which would be about 1859 or earlier). Do you think a teaching method like this would work for today's students? Why or why not? How might this teaching method be adapted to today's students?