When students Google their teacher
At Quaker Pagan Reflections, Cat Chapin-Bishop struggles with levels of meaning and definition after one of her 9th-graders asks, “Are you a Witch?“
So there I am, clock ticking, a stack of quizzes in my hand, and for once all student eyes are on me. And about 50,000 things are going through my head at once, including:
– The urgent question, what does this kid think the word, “Witch” means?
– The urgent question, what do all the other kids in this classroom, and every member of their extended families, think the word “Witch” means?
– The comic comeback, “Nope, I stopped practicing and now I’m the real thing.”
– The importance of the separation of church and state.
– The reasonably large population of fundamentalist Christian families in my school district.
– The importance of plain speech and truth-telling.
Read the whole thing.