I am the Walrus

Well, actually, I am the whale. And the tiger, monkey, ox ...

One of the units I taught this week was about animals. As the intro activity (we call it the "Engagement"), I wrote down all the names of the students in my class as well as my name. I put a line beside each name and made copies. Basically the activity is to think, for each person, what animal they would be and write it down beside their name. Then we came together as a class and shared them, with our explanations of why.

It was a pretty funny activity, because some people got regular animals like hamster, turtle, frog and some got more unique ones like plant-eating dinosaur, desert fox and cat raised by a rich family. Lots of laughs.

Then we got to my name. At first, when I heard some of these animals, I was on the verge of being offended, but when I heard my students' reasons, I was... well here's what they said:

• Tiger (x2): Because I have all the power in the classroom. (true dat)
• Eagle: Because of the way I walk and talk.
• Hawk: Because I had said at the beginning of class that I took a spirit guide quiz and mine is apparently the hawk lol.
• Leopard: Because "that's just what I see when I look at you."
• Mother Monkey (note: I was about ready to throw down when I heard monkey, but...): Because as the teacher I am like a mother and (truesay) I move around a lot and make ridiculous gestures when I teach. Kind of like a monkey. That made me laugh.

Now for the 2 that struck a chord with me since I have had issues with my size for a very long time:

• Whale: Because I seem independent. Like I don't need anyone else. I can handle my own.
• Ox: Because I am "Powerful and dynamic" (yeah he said that).
  

Wow.... Just... wow. I was so touched by the end of it, but I had to just keep going. It was an interesting exercise. More so than I'd anticipated. We also had say what animal we think we would be. I'd said Black Panther (har har), because for as long as I can remember, I have fantasized and dreamt about being like a Black Panther, or being somehow linked to them. I never researched them and never really got into figuring out if there was something substantial to my feeling. But that's just the way it was. So for my students (3 of them), to associate me with a big cat (albeit different big cats), made me smile.

So that was a good day.