|
|
|
� |
|
This has been a fascinating week. I've been watching my student teacher become more confident and independent as she plans her own lessons and I spend less time in the classroom with her. We still plan together--Cher, me, and Sarah--but she's the one calling the shots in the classroom. It's like watching a newly emerged butterfly as her wings dry and she takes her first tentative flight. One of my roles this week was snake handler. Our darlings read a story about Grace Wiley, a pioneering herpetologist who was fatally bitten by one of her own cobras.Now, we have a teacher at our school with a pet snake, a young red-tailed boa named Maggie. The snake lives in an upstairs classroom most of the time, but Nan is fond of toting her around the building. Maggie is very tame and friendly, and I got to hold her one day in the teacher workroom, as Cher and Sarah watched in horror from their perch on the far wall. I grew up with pet snakes, so I think they're cool, but I understand why they give people the creeps. Anyway, when we got to planning the Grace Wiley story, Sarah's eyes lit up and she turned eagerly to me. "Do you think Nan will let us borrow Maggie?" she chirped. Nan was willing, but since Cher and Sarah will not touch Maggie, I was pressed into service as the snake wrangler. The kids got to see and gently touch a real snake (many of them had never seen a live snake in person), and Maggie and I had a great time together. She especially liked hiding under my hair, around my neck. I startled our principal a bit when Maggie poked her head out over the top of my ear in the middle of a conversation. She's a really great snake. Now the kids are eager to see what we'll do next. I have plans! Big plans! But no more live animals...for a while. (Good thing we're not reading Moby Dick, eh?) |
 
|
Snakes in a classroom!