Day 48 - Fri Nov 16: A few of my classes worked extremely well on today. As a result, there was some unanticipated time left at the end of the period.
I threw out a general question to the class, "any big plans for this weekend?"
The normal middle school itinerary entries were flying around the room - games, birthday parties, Bar Mitzvahs, sleeping late, movies.
Then it happened. They turned the interrogation back on me with an ulterior motive, "What about you Mr. Mag?"
"I;m not sure what we're doing yet."
Several adolescent voices chimed in with a less-than-rehearsed chorus, "Are you going to find any Life Birds this weekend?!"
My heart was warmed. Did I think they really cared about my enjoyment of finding new birds? Of course not, they were only wishing to celebrate a new discovery next week. Then why was I so delighted you might ask.
First of all, they were all using birding vernacular - Life Birds! Several of them were even able to recall that the Calliope Hummingbird was my first life bird this year.
Secondly, their teacher's excitement of a new bird is oozing into their consciousness via our class' Life Bird celebrations. These small but well-received tokens of accomplishment are effective. Definitely worth the expense of buying snacks for 140 kids once in a while.
Walls of birding ignorance are being cihpped away in their minds and hearts. They are becoming familiar with the world of birdwatching = )
Isn't this the first step in becoming a birder?!
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