(237) The Report Card by Andrew Clements

This is a Scholastic book written by the author of Frindle - a two-million-copy bestseller.

The story tells of a hidden genius call Nora. She was able to appear normal from 2.5 years old to fifth grade. That shows she not only is high in her IQ, she must be full of EQ (emotional quotient) too. Most parents would love to have really smart children, but I suppose it is not easy to bring up a genius in a balanced way.

In the book a very wise teacher asked Nora why she was given such high IQ. It would probably take Nora the rest of her life to find out. I probably would not test as high on the scale as Nora. In those days I doubt any of my teachers have access to any IQ test. But I remember cooking my scores in primary school so that I don't stand out like a sore thumb. From Grade Three to Six I alternated at First and Second place with my Assistant Monitor. When he begged hard enough, I would score just low enough for him to be first in class - after all, he claimed that his father would beat him for coming second. The the next year he would boast and get on my nerve - then I would make sure I outscore him by about thirty marks in the final exam so he would come second again.

Now I can see that I was given a brain that is able to absorb facts and incidences and file them most systematically away. As Kenneth said, I don't just have on-line and off-line storage, I seemed to have the ability to instantly recall things stored away from any part of my life -- whether real life experiences, things I heard or things I read at will. This come in handy in my teaching life, I could tell interesting, one of a kind stories at the drop of a pin to wake up nodding students. Most of these stories are true too, maybe with a few minor facts altered so that the people involved would remain anonymous. There is a purpose in telling real stories, apart from entertainment. Usually I would ask for the moral lesson and more often than not, at least one person would give me the correct or an acceptable answer.

Since I have not continued in teaching for the past seven years, I have noticed that this unique memory serves me really well when people I spend time listening to tell me facts or experiences that they have never shared with anyone before. Keeping in mind that each person is unique, and the fact that I do not have a psychology degree nor am I a qualified counselor, to be able to come up with an upbeat, encouraging response use up every bit of my immense storage files.