Snakes Never Cease to Amaze Me

[nlt71]

I teach physical science at a high school---mostly freshmen and a few that didn't pass the class during their freshman year. The school has a mix of kids, but is considered a low income school due to the number of kids that qualify for free lunch. Many migrant families that have settled here due to year-round work.

I was talking to some students about the fact that I have snakes and I decided to bring some in. WOW!!! What a response! Many of these students don't ever get engaged. They won't even bring a pencil to class (I guess it's a gang thing). Almost all of them couldn't wait to touch the snake (a few kept their distance). Even some of the students that said that they didn't like snakes couldn't resist touching them or taking their picture with it. I showed them 4 different morphs. The snow was their favorite.

I have some eggs due in about a week. I'm thinking of hatching them out in class and letting them take part in the process. I wish I taught biology, but I guess I can work it in somehow.

I was so astounded by this, I just has to share.

Anyway, I

 

[Dave123]

Very cool! I am glad they liked the snakes and I bet they would love to see the eggs hatch!

 

[starsevol]

Wow, that is wonderful! You showed those kids something they had never seen before, and I will bet you dollars to donuts they will remember the experiance the rest of their lives! (things like that tend to stick )

 

[Nanci]

If you bring the eggs to class, I guarantee you will transform the entire class into snake lovers! Who can resist a darling baby?

I was hiking in Georgia once. I had my pigeon, Dillbird, in a backpack. Some little kids wanted to see him. They said they had never seen a bird before!! (hopefully they just meant up close). I took Dill out and let them pet him. They were just thrilled. They'll never look at pigeons the same way.

 

[starsevol]

Nanci, your Dillbird was an ambassator for pigies everywhere

 

[Maize411]

Very cool experience! Congrats on the success :0)

 

[nlt71]

Thanks---I think you're right. They will never forget it. Several have pictures of themselves on their cellphones---I wish I would have brought my camera. When I do it again, I will have to make sure that I get some pics.

I'll bet I annoyed several parents having to tell their kids that they can't get a pet snake. Maybe some of the parents will say yes!!

 

[patm1313]

Wow, that is wonderful! You showed those kids something they had never seen before, and I will bet you dollars to donuts they will remember the experiance the rest of their lives! (things like that tend to stick )

Funny. I remember hatching chicks in my class. I guess I'm on the other side of the spectrum now, as I could feed my snake chicks...

Anyway, hatching snakes beats hatching chicks by a million units of fun. It just goes to show that breeding snakes isn't only a process of extreme enjoyment and reward, but that it is also scientific, and can benificial to education (Lol, I nearly spelled "education" with a J).

 

[insomniac101]

That is so cool that you were able to connect with those kids using snakes. Great idea about bringing in the eggs to hatch in class; if it will keep them interested in coming to class, it can't hurt.

It must be very challenging to work with kids who won't even bring a pencil to class. If I had lost or forgotten my pencil, I would've been sobbing on the telephone, asking my Mom to bring one up to the school! I was such a geek!

Anyway, good luck with your project, and please keep us posted!

Kathy

 

[bitsy]

I will bet you dollars to donuts they will remember the experiance the rest of their lives! (things like that tend to stick )

Yup, I'm proof of that. I saw my first snake on a school trip to a wildlife park when I was six years old. It was the most beautiful, alien, extraordinary thing I'd ever seen in my life.

I still sometimes get that feeling when I look at my own snakes, now.

Good on you, nlt. You just might have made a major difference to a couple of those lives.

 

[Monger]

My biology teacher a couple years back in High School kept locally wild caught garter snakes in his classroom. They were cool as hell. Snakes are a really good teaching tool imo

 

[Widget]

I think its a great idea even if you teach physical science. Maybe figure out ways to use snake movement in a physics examples. Even if all they see is snakes are cool then that will stick with them, and they can see that learning can be fun.

Best of luck with the babies.

 

[patm1313]

Yup, I'm proof of that. I saw my first snake on a school trip to a wildlife park when I was six years old. It was the most beautiful, alien, extraordinary thing I'd ever seen in my life.

I still sometimes get that feeling when I look at my own snakes, now.

Good on you, nlt. You just might have made a major difference to a couple of those lives.

My first experiences with snakes was being bit by a barter snake. Even though it bit me, I knew i loved them right away. In fact, I'm going to start a thread with this.

 

[tstephe3]

thats awesome! i was thinking you could use snakes with wavelenghts! thats kinda what they look like when they slither.

 

[Hunter2011]

I bet that you will have some of those kids asking to buy the babies? lol That's awesome that you could make sucjh a big difference to the kids

 

[_Sam_]

My corn snake addiction began when my Physics teacher brought in his two hatchlings (Amel and Normal), and I'm glad he did! Almost everyone in the class wanted to handle them, feed them, etc. After seeing we liked the snakes, he even brought in giant hissing cockroaches and a tarantula! Teachers who do stuff like this make class so much more fun! You have lucky students. =)

 

[ZoologyMajor]

Awesome! I find that most kids don't try to learn new things if they don't see any future applications to it. Getting them out of the hum-drum mood of just another thing to learn and replacing it with something interactive helps to get those learning juices flowing. When I first learned about genetics I was soooooo bored. Now that I have snakes it has all of a sudden become fascinating. Have you thought about having them compete for grades to become "special snake helpers?" Would be a good incentive even if it is just something like getting to hold the snake longer than the rest. Again, awesome job!

 

[patm1313]

Yeah, I'm a student, but in a few days we are going to do some basice genetics, punnet squares, and such things. I will love it because I already know about genetics thanks to corn snakes.

 

[nlt71]

Thank you for all of your encouragement. The kids were still excited about them even after the weekend. The absent students were pretty bummed that they missed it. I guess they will have to return. I will bring in a couple different morphs. Of course I have quite a few that want baby snakes---I told them that their parents need to come in and see me if they are to get the snake.

I like the idea about using them for waves. I could even use them for some of our motion and forces lessons. We're just finishing up with waves. I really wish that I taught biology. Most of these students had some genetics in middle school, but they don't remember much.

Thanks again for your nice words.

Nancy

 

[desertanimal]

They won't even bring a pencil to class (I guess it's a gang thing).

I don't think it's a gang thing. I'm in 7th and 8th grade in a rural/military base community this year and I can't believe that the students don't bring writing utensils. I even asked one of my students why she didn't have her own pencil, or why she didn't regularly carry her own writing utensils. She said she asks her mom every day but her mom never gets around to buying her any. Weird, huh?

I've finally gotten an ant farm into the classroom, and when the students have 5 extra minutes, they get up and go watch the ants. I expected this from some students, but several students I didn't expect to be interested at all are interested, and it is very gratifying. The students keep asking me where the queen is since they knew I was trying to raise a real colony for them in the fall (the queens died).

I gave two of my hatchlings last fall to a Chemistry teacher and she loves them and says that her students come in after school to watch the snakelings eat. They don't do anything chemistry-related so far, but hey, it gets the students excited about coming to her class. Can't hurt!

You should totally let the eggs hatch in your classroom. They will be so into it. Hmmm. Physics and snakes. That's not that easy, but like you say, you can work it in when you can, and in the meantime, it gets them interested in coming to your class.

Have fun!