My sincerest apologies for lack of recent posts. It's been a very busy few weeks between school and Fledging Birders activity. But, much like an Acorn Woodpecker, I have been collecting a nice little cache of my own. Here go some brief Pledge to Fledge happenings of the past few weeks.
Day 34 - Wed Oct 24: A co-worker stopped by my classroom today with a smirk on his face. He asked, "do you write for the Courier-Post?"
"I've done a few articles for them."
"I know. I was checking out their web site and saw you there. I just read your entire blog!"
At this point, he proceeded to hurl some good old inapproriate innuendos at me. Luckily, there were no students in the class!
As the day went on, I saw this guy and another teacher in the hallway several times. Each time, they had a new sincere comment about one of the birds mentioned in my Winged Wonders blog.
I have no problem taking a bit of friendly teasing if it results in other people talking about birds!
Day 33 - Tues Oct 23: I made a brief cameo appearance in another teacher's class today to ask a quick question. As I walked through the door, some friendly greetings from the students were heard but a few questions really cut through the auditory haze.
"What birds have you seen lately?"
"Any life birds this year?"
"When can I go birding with you again?"
Music to my ears! Needless to say, I chatted with the kids for a few minutes as they finished their work.
Day 32 - Mon Oct 22:Pop Quiz! Oh, the joys of teaching!
For extra credit on one group's quiz, they had to tell me why we celebrated several weeks ago. Virtually all of them remembered that I saw a "life bird" or new hummingbird. A few of them were even able to specify the Calliope Hummingbird.
Day 31 - Fri Oct 19: I routinely give students goofy nicknames. It's quite common for there to be an avian origin to these names. It really piques their curiosity.
One student's actual name always conjures up images of flocks of Brant bobbing in the back bays of the Jersey Shore. Therefore, her friendly moniker involves those dimintuive geese. Today, I surprise the daylights out of the class by breaking out her namesake - a real mounted Brant!
They were shocked, amazed, and enthralled by the sight. Several days later, I am still fielding questions about that bird!!
Day 30 - Thurs Oct 18:Today's class focused on the Paleolithic Era caves of southern Africa. While discussing Border Cave, I hopped up onto a desk to model advantages of living on a cliff. A quick witted kid joked, "he's gonna try and fly!"
We turned the conversation into the advantages birds have when soaring high, they were hitting key things like seeing prey further away and avoiding predators. The students then easily discussed the benefits of living on a cliff.
Day 29 - Wed Oct 17: I was exceedingly busy today getting ready for our first Student Council meeting today. My students could tell I was overloaded with my mental To Do list. As I was printing out the final agenda for the meeting, the calls of passing Killdeer echoed through my room. In that instant, I was transported to another mental place. One with grasspipers galore - Killdeer, Buff-breasted Sandpipers, and Upland Sandpipers.
Arrving at the meeting a fw minutes later, one of the students said, "Mr. Mag, did you just see a bird?"
"Not exactly. I just heard a Killdeer fly over the soccer field though. Why?"
The blunt reply made me chuckle, "You were grumpy all day but now you have a huge smile. It must have been a bird!"
Day 28 - Tues Oct 16: Some of my former students stopped by during homeroom this morning. They were entertaining my 6th graders with goofy stories about me from last year. One of the formers blurted out, "it's was always cool when Mr, Mag found a new bird!"
This was met by a current student's immediate response "Yeah! We just celebrated one of his life bird's last week!"
There's a nice ring to young kids using birding jargon ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment