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#39: Anthorpomorphism

We have a lizard in our class named Mr. Pancho.  He doesn’t do much, really.  Just sits and eats a cricket each day and turns colors depending on his location.  However, the students study him closely, pointing out when he is scaling a wall or begging to watch when he catches a cricket.

It’s odd to me, considering the fact that we rarely give that type of emphasis to our own human experience.  When was the last time we lined up in front of Home Town Buffet to watch people eat?  When was the last time we watched someone in camo blend into a tree?

He has morphed into more than simply a class pet.  He now has his own blog and posts to our class blog.  One group has decided he should run for Congress, reasoning that he’s already green so he might as well be part of the Green Party.  Besides, the Constitution doesn’t stipulate “human.”  Students now write their anonymous blog posts as Mr. Pancho Posts.

They have given him human characteristics.  Sometimes they think he is sad or grumpy or bored or sleepy.  Who knows?  Perhaps they are right.  However, every once in awhile I catch them talking to him.

“I know what it’s like to try and blend in.”

Another student said, “Rough night.  Me too.”

This doesn’t happen often, but every once in awhile it occurs with the first student in or the last student out.  Someone makes a comment to Mr. Pancho about everyone watching or blending in or having to sit still.  It’s become one of my favorite parts of this school year – a little unexpected anthropomorphism.

#38: Murals and Metaphors

“The mural looks kind of dark,” I tell my students.  They want it urban, though, which means the buildings and the shadows have a colder look to it.

“It looks complicated.  Busy or something,” a girl adds.

“Maybe that’s how reading is,” a boy adds.  ”Maybe reading isn’t an easy task.  Just think about it.”

So we do.

I’m not shocked by this comment, either.  Earlier in the day, we watched the video of the slam poem “I Can’t Read.”  It led to some great discussions about identity and roles.  The students connected it to the questions of freedom from the American Revolution and the values of social compliance we had seen in the folktale “The Oxcart.”  A few brought up The Giver and a student from the “low” group mentioned survival in The Hatchet.

Reading is complicated.

For some of them, it’s automatic.  The fluency, the vocabulary, the predicting and the visualizing, the questioning and the inferences – those are natural.  Then the journey turns daunting again, as they realize that literature is more than comprehension; that it’s uncomfortable.

For others, the journey of reading to be just that  - a daunting journey. Each skill seems confusing and bizarre and foreign.  I watch them tackle words and wrestle with confusion.  I watch them cower in fear that they won’t get in time for high school or college or life.

One of the reasons I love painting murals with my students is that it provides a metaphor that helps them think through difficult concepts.  In this case, it’s about the struggle to read.