Blog Your Blessings: 'I Have to Tell You Something About Your Turtles'

"Miss Carlson, I have to tell you something about your turtles." This was my best student whispering to me at the beginning of a test--which test began just after I explained how important it would be to stay quiet and focused. 

"Tell me after your test, hon."

But he wouldn't be put off.

"I have to tell you. I read it this morning."  This from a kid who is the picture of good manners. Just the Awesome Child you want in your classroom because the interaction is always good. He was insisting on telling me something about My Turtles during a test. I had to love that, and I did. Rebellion that takes this form is an embrace that doesn't let go.

"What about them?" I asked.

"They've been around since the time of the dinosaurs," he said. He had read it this moring in Weird but True. And he had to tell me. 

Even as he held that test (on which he would earn a perfect score), his mind was wandering among dinosaurs and turtles on a beautiful autumn morning, traveling back and forth from then to now along the same path as the turtles I love--and he wanted me to know. 

He interrupted a test to respect me. To connect. It wouldn't wait.

***

"What's good, Miss?" is the greeting du jour at work these days.

"It's all good," is always my response. Nobody argues.