Words for the wise....

Picture this... I'm at work, writing some notes busily in a student's file.. out of my peripheral vision, I see that a pencil is about to roll off the table (this happens a lot...) and I reach out and catch it just as it plummets over the edge. The eight-year-old boy student sitting opposite from me looks a little amazed.

Me: That's why I'm sometimes called "Tiger" instead of Ms. Hannah. Because of my sweet, tiger-reflexes.

Student (suddenly incredulous): Tigers don't have good reflexes!

Me: Um, yes they do.

Student: That's impossible! They don't even have opposable thumbs.

(Maybe that's not funny to you... I thought it was really funny. He had a point. We retried the whole pencil rolling off the table thing, only this time I was not allowed to use my thumbs to catch it... it didn't go so well. I might need to find a new nick-name for myself.)

Another good convo:

Student: What do you want me to call you? Ms. Hannah, or just Hannah?

Me: How about Ms. Super-Awesome?

Student: Yeah!

(I actually had trouble responding to that name... so we went back to Ms. Hannah.)

Student: Would you rather be protected by a minotaur, or a fawn?

Me: Minotaur for sure. They're huge.

Student: I would rather be protected by a fawn. They can do flips!

Me (teasing a little): I'm not sure they can...

Student: I'VE SEEN IT HAPPEN!

(That was when I decided... I need to always make sure we are distinguishing between real-life and fantasy with these kinds of dialogues...)