Monday, October 6, 2008

the educator apple did not fall far from the tree

on saturday afternoon as my husband and i pulled away from my parents' house in the country my husband exclaimed, "hey, look, a turtle!" and sure enough there was a box turtle patiently crossing the semi-gravel road in the quiet neighborhood. my husband's first instinct was "that's cool" and to keep on driving. i however, was raised by my mother, a 2nd grade teacher. i have been taught that everything is a teachable moment, and that anything can be used to teach those pesky testing requirements.
"STOP!" i shouted, jumped out of the car, grabbed the turtle, and went sprinting down the road shouting, "MOM!!" like i was six again.
"want a turtle for your 2nd graders?" i asked, knowing that just last week she had caught a frog and a toad in our front yard and brought to school for the students to practice their observation skills.
without even saying yes she took the turtle happily and went off to make a temporary habitat for him. i'm sure this morning in her second grade classroom her little ones are peering over a box, listening to my mom explain everything she knows about turtles.
if i ever wonder why i do random, crazy things for the children i teach, i have to remember where i came from.

1 comment:

Snippety Gibbet said...

My Mark stops the car...stops the bike...stops the hike...for wayward box turtles. Once he rescued one from the Anacostia River, and released it across the street from our house, in the woods. No box turtle will be smooshed or drowned on his watch.