A Model Student

"Class, we'll be starting the human body unit next week. If you have not purchased a kit for the frog dissection, you'll have to do it before Thursday," Mr. Skinner announced.

The bell rang, and the students began to discuss the upcoming unit as they shuffled out of the room. Javier was waiting for Jeff in the hallway.

"This is going to be so cool," Javier said. When Jeff didn't respond right away, Javier asked, "Isn't it?"

"What? Huh? Oh yeah. So cool," mumbled Jeff. Javier continued to chatter about how great it would be to see a frog's intestines, and Jeff grew more uncomfortable with the idea of dissecting a frog. When he was younger, he used to catch frogs, toads, and salamanders. He usually found them in the window wells of his house or near the pond that was down the street. He would put them in a big container with grass and rocks. He would watch them for a little while and listen to the noises they made, but he always let the creatures go.

After school, Jeff trudged home. He went straight to his room to do homework without talking with his mother, eating a snack, or walking his dog, Nilla. His mom walked by his room a few times and peaked in the door. Each time she did, he was sitting at his desk, tapping a pencil and staring out the window. His turtle, Vito, was walking slowly across the desk. When Jeff finally came downstairs, he flopped into an easy chair with a big sigh.

"Is there something the matter?" his mom asked.

"No," Jeff said, glumly, but he continued to mope. "Are you sure?" his mom asked again.

After a long silence, Jeff asked, "Mom, if you were supposed to do something that didn't feel right to you, what would you do?

She looked up from her book. "Is this about cleaning your room again?" she joked. Jeff frowned at her attempt to make a joke. "Well, I don't know," his mom said. "I guess if this 'something' didn't feel right, I would figure out a way out of it. Does that help?"

"Uh-huh," Jeff replied. "C'mon, Nilla. Let's go for a walk." A nice, long stroll with the dog would give him time to think of a way out of dissecting the frog. He could tell Mr. Skinner that he wouldn't do it. He could say he was a, what did his dad call it? Oh yes, a conscientious objector. Somehow, Jeff knew that wouldn't work. The frog dissection was worth a big percentage of his quarter grade. There was also a test covering the unit on the human body.

Just then, Jeff saw a worm inching along in the middle of the sidewalk. He and the dog stopped. Nilla sniffed the worm, and Jeff gingerly picked it up and placed in the safety of the grass.

No, he would have to come up with a substitute for the project. If he could show Mr. Skinner that he was serious about learning the material, but just wanted to go about it a different way, maybe his teacher would agree.

After dinner, Jeff hopped on the family's computer to research different options for frog dissection. He wondered what the point of dissecting a frog was anyway. He discovered that frogs and humans are vertebras and share similar organ systems. Interesting, he thought. Jeff learned that there were several software programs that offered virtual frog dissection, but he didn't want to dissect a frog no matter if it was in person or on a computer. Then it came to him. If the point of dissecting a frog was to learn about the human body, then why not study human anatomy? Jeff drifted off to sleep that night rehearsing what he would say to Mr. Skinner.

The next day, he approached his teacher's desk after science class. Jeff cleared his throat, and Mr. Skinner looked up from his grade book. "Yes, Jeff. What can I do for you?"

Suddenly, the entire speech Jeff had practiced was gone and now his teacher looked at him intently. "Mr. Skinner?" he stopped and then began again. "Mr. Skinner, I don't want to cut up a frog." The teacher frowned. Oh no! It was coming out wrong.

"What I mean to say, Mr. Skinner is that I like science class a lot, but I don't feel right about dissecting a frog. It may be OK for other students, but I'm an animal lover. I know that we dissect frogs to learn about the human body, so I thought I could use clay to build a model of the human systems." Mr. Skinner wrinkled his brow, so Jeff added, "I would even present my models to the class and promise to get an A on the test."

Mr. Skinner smiled, "I can see you're serious about this. Don't let me down, Jeff."

Word went around pretty quick that Jeff wouldn't dissect a frog. He knew classmates in science class were whispering about him. A few of the boys snickered and made "ribbit" noises every time Jeff answered Mr. Skinner's questions. Jeff didn't care.

When the dissection unit started, instead of going to science class, Jeff went to the library and read about human anatomy. He learned that blood is an organ, the surface area of the lungs is about the same size as a tennis court, and the largest organ is the skin. Each afternoon, he would race home after school and work on his clay models.

Finally, it came time for Jeff to bring his models to school. He slipped a large piece of cardboard underneath them. With his father's help, he carefully carried them to the car. Though Jeff normally walked to school, getting the models there on foot was out of the question. They were much too large. Along the way, Jeff and his dad picked up Javier, and he helped Jeff carry the models into school. A hush came over the hallway as the boys passed. It wasn't every day that students saw clay replicas of human organs! They carefully opened the door to the science classroom.

"Well, well," Mr. Skinner said. "Jeff, it looks like you've done a fine job here with the models. I think we'll use them for the unit review today. Did you learn anything?"

"Yes, sir. I'm pretty sure I did" Jeff said, and later in the week he scored the highest grade on the unit test.

1.	USE TEXT STRUCTURE From the title, what do you think this story might be about?
2.	CLARIFY What do you know about frog dissection? Where can you find out more information about it?
3.	FACT OR OPINION Is this a fact or opinion? Explain.
4.	REVIEW What do you know about Jeff so far?
5.	REVIEW What is the "something" that is bothering Jeff?
6.	CLARIFY Where can you find out more about what a "conscientious objector" is?
7.	EVALUATE What do you think about Jeff's plan?
8.	PREDICT Do you think Jeff will have to dissect a frog?
9.	REVIEW What is Jeff doing instead of dissecting a frog?
10.	USE TEXT STRUCTURE Review the title. What do you think the title means now?