Sole vs. Spirit

In my first placement of student teaching (in physical education) this past fall, I was teaching a soccer unit to the 5th and 6th graders. One of my objectives that would get questioned on the test was for the students to be able to identify all parts of the foot used in dribbling a soccer ball. I hammer HEEL, TOE, INSIDE, OUTSIDE, TOP and BOTTOM into their head on a daily basis. By the end of the unit, I was able to ask every student to name the parts of the foot and they were able to sound them off like a well trained army corps.
Now I am not a big fan of paper and pencil tests, especially in the Physical Education setting but seeing as though these students had already been accustom to this style of formal assessment, I figured I would give it a whirl and "administer" a paper and pencil test to see if these students really met my objectives. Test day came and as expected, there were a few questions clarifications that needed to be answered. Then came that daunting yet amusing task of grading. I was anxious to see how smart my students were. . .or in reality, how effective my own physical educating skills were.
My major underestimation was not only the ability to spell, but the ability to write in clear handwriting. Why I expected more, I don't know, seeing as though I have a hard time reading my own handwriting. I was constantly asking my cooperating teacher (CT) for help in deciphering words. It seemed as though he had taken Chicken Scratches 101, the introductory course at UWEC that I apparently was not notified about. He seemed to be able to look at the sad attempt at a word and decipher it withing a fraction of a second.
There was one test that neither one of us could figure out what a word was. The question was to "Name 4 of the 6 parts of your food used when you dribble a soccer ball". It was rather suprising because this particular student usually had great penmenship and never had issues with learning anything. It seemed as though she made up a new word. Out of a couple hundred students, only a couple had actually missed this question only due to perhaps that dreaded test anxiety. After taking the test down to the english teacher for some further expert deciphering, she notified me that the word said "Spirit". Now I was completely baffled, as was my CT. Finally I decided to just ask the student in hopes that I did not offend her in any way. After school, I went to her locker bay and pulled her aside. Again, she was a bright girl whos popularity and blonde hair won over many pre-pubescent crushes. She looked at me in a rather frustrated way and said "duh Mr. S., that says spirit, yeah, like, as in Soul." I immediately busted out a short burst of a laugh only to correct myself and appologize for "not being able to pick up on that". Only then did I realize that she was smart enough to realize that the BOTTOM of the foot was the sole and she clearly had heard the bottom of a foot be called a sole before but never really knew the differenct between a SOUL and a SOLE! Now, everytime I hear the word spirit, I think of the bottom of my foot. . .or perhaps the next time I hear the bottom of my foot, I will think of my spirit.