Guys, I'm not slamming this guy for stretching the kids, we expect that and do that in our home life.
You can see that with his point scoring, the kids are becoming disengaged, as they realise that their prospects for success are virtually nil, rather than being a challenge or stretch target.
You can see their eyes light when they think they can do something "hard", but is an extension of their previous learning. You can see them switch off with cephalothorax, as it's not a logical growth from their previous spelling.
Ticking all 20 words, then marking it with "19/20, nearly there" isn't challenging, and organising a museum trip with no worksheets isn't either.
My little group of 4 spent half an hour in the skeletons section, looking at how cat's (moggie through to lions) claws work versus other animals, and I could show them how the cat uncomfortably settling on their lap translated to a big cat dragging an antelope up a tree.
Put too many disconnects into a little kid's learning (IMO), and they are more likely to get lost.
He could have asked them the pronunciation of "ghoti" to similar effect as the spelling of cephalothorax. exoskeleton would be fine, when used in a comparative sense with endoskeleton, as there's more of the world that can be tied to that concept, and it starts another discussion, and another area of exploration..
