I love my students. Yes I really do.  I have my fair share of gripes and complaints from time to time, but ultimately, I do love interacting with teenagers – opening their eyes to new things and looking at things sometimes from their perspectives. I adopt a classroom management system where the students do feel comfortable speaking up and voicing their opinions at times.  One of my student’s current causes are the poor cows that have been mistreated in the slaughterhouses.  This was on the news a lot in February so her new cause – Cattle.  We’ve teased her. I had pizza one day, and the box said something about cheese from real California cows. Well she had a fit, and I enjoyed telling her how much I had enjoyed the pizza the next day.    This was right before Valentines Day so for Valentines, she made me a valentine with a picture of a cattle and cattle supplies that said “Even Cows Have Feelings. Happy Valentines Day.”  I returned by finding a 2008 calendar at Waldenbooks a couple weeks later on clearance for a $1 so I bought it for her.  While I do feel sorry for the poor cows that were shown in the news (I didn’t express that), I have to admit that I find listening to the student voice fascinating and love being the instigator and just taking an opposite opinion from them to make their brains work and defend their positions.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaWYRFJPbtY

Did you miss this incident in the news?  Just in case, I’ve included a video below of this mistreatment (and to show my student I do care).