Bronwyn Harris, Author

Tiger is going to be in a middle school science class this year!  I have a feeling that the students will love him.  Animals have a way of reaching the students who are tough to reach - somehow this little lizard can break down walls that humans can't.  I have seen the meanest kids in my class talk to animals in an incredibly loving manner. The gecko is also good for teachers.  Nothing quiets a class down faster than "Well, I guess I'll have to take Tiger home because this class is too loud for him."  He's a good pet. Four years ago: Back to School Specials

First, I'm really truly getting to the NCLB/merit pay post soon.  I wish I had a way to make money off the blog so that I could actually focus on writing it instead of trying to make money.  Sigh.  Here's some interesting thoughts though from a facebook friend. In the meantime, here are some more journal entries: If geckos went to school there school would be scaley.  I n the cafeteria they would serve nasty bugs.  Instead of sitting on desk, they would each have there own cage. If there was gecko school it would be tiny desks and like a school that was the size of a desk probley and there would be alot of geckos and a principle gecko and a teacher geckos and there lockers would be like little rocks adn they would go to school. at night. If geckos went to school their class would be how to make new skin, and how to grow a new tail, and how to eat bugs.  Most of the time I do all of my homework at school. If I were Tiger I wouldn't want to be in a...

The gecko is visiting a sixth grade class this month. I went to talk to the class about gecko care and they seemed really excited. I hope that Tiger (the gecko) touches these kids in the same way he touched the third graders. In honor of Tiger, here are some of the essays the third graders wrote about him during my last year in the classroom. The gecko eats crickets. The gecko comes out to see us. The gecko has its peace. The gecko climbs on its rock. the gecko sleeps in his own home. The gecko plays outside and sleeps in the day. the gecko has stripes. The gecko is 3 months old. The gecko's colors are brown and yellow. The gecko is scared of other animals. The gecko is a baby. Leopard geckos are found in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. Leopard geckos are among the largest geckos. 8 or 9 inches. Leopard geckos can live in a aquarium or plastic sweater boxes. Leopard geckos need sand, newspapers, and exercise. Leopard geckos can hide in Rocks, hide box, and...

I'll be in Yosemite until Sunday, so I leave you with some beautiful pictures that a friend's class (I was subbing for her) drew for the gecko. Of the gecko and for the gecko. He gets fan mail. Enjoy.

I substituted for a friend last week. It was a really good class and I enjoyed it, although there were definitely reminders about why I am done with this district. (For example, they don't seem to want to pay me for subbing, which is a problem! The school is very similar to my old school. The kids are absolutely city kids. There was a word problem that asked if a farmer had five chickens, how many chicken feet were there? (It's second grade, so it's not too complex). The problem was not the addition but the chickens. No one seemed to know how many feet a chicken has! The overwhelming consensus was that a chicken has four feet. There were some odd pictures of four-footed chickens. I was also reminded that kids bleed a lot. There was a bloody nose, teeth coming out, scabs coming off, scraped knees... all sorts of blood! And pee. There was an accident - a girl that just used the bathroom had an amazing amount of pee that ended up all over her chair and the floor. ...

Open House... supposed to start at 5:00 pm... at 5:15, after I still can't find 2 out of the 3 administrators (the other one was on the phone) and the auditorium, where things like this take place, was locked... I went back to my classroom. Eventually the announcement came on that it was free-form and parents should just go to classrooms. This is what we call a "low-maintenance open house." Or a "lazy open house." I don't know - I think administrators get six figures (or close to it) and that they could maybe organize a REAL open house. But maybe that's just me. As always, the gecko was a favorite for all children at the open house, whether they knew me or not. The countdown continues!

Yes, the photos below are of the gecko eating his peeling skin. He doesn't have problems; all leopard geckos eat the skin that they shed, both because it has nutrients and as a way to hide evidence of their existence from predators. He pulls it off with his little teeny tiny teeth and eats it. The other random photos of reptiles scattered around amongst the posts are from a program, in which Owen of the East Bay Vivarium came and showed the kids a bunch of reptiles, and a few centipedes, millipedes, tarantulas, and amphibians. It was pretty awesome.

"Jade" wants to make Tiger (the gecko) a little tiny coat. I'm not sure how she's going to accomplish this, but she appears determined! It's going to be red and pink, to go with his colors. Who knows. Here's a picture of Tiger eating a cricket, with the cricket legs hanging out of his mouth. (Look carefully; the picture was taken through his glass cage, so it's not the clearest.) The kids love this more than anything. They think it's very bad manners on his part to leave the legs "hanging out his mouth."

Has learned to eat mealworms. He loves them. He eats them like candy. Somehow, that's grosser than crickets to me.

Today was one of those days. Not a horrible day, exactly, but one when I kind of wonder what I'm doing here and if the kids will ever get anywhere and if I'll escape this year with any of my sanity still in place. And also, what the HELL is wrong with our country's priorities? -We don't have enough custodians so we have to send a kid to dump the garbage. And I almost cried when someone said "The janitor sweeps and mops your classroom, right?" -One of the fourth grade classes (half of my students from last year) STILL doesn't have a teacher. Hey, they almost did me in. Who's going to want to take that job? -One of my students told me-casually-that his dad had been killed in a gang fight a few years back. -One of my old students came back to visit and was BRAGGING to a 5th grader that he had straight D's in his classes. -The school is out of white paper to make copies, so we have to make all our copies on colored paper or white cardstock. And I seem...

Notice the gecko's accessories... there is his half a coconut shell that he lives in, but also... presents! Some of them with a tag on them saying "Gecko" in case there was confusion about the recipient of the gifts. I told the kids that we didn't know yet if the gecko was a girl or boy, because you can't tell until they're older and one of the boys said, very confidently, "Oh, it's a boy." I asked how he knew and he said, "I can see it in his eyes."

Our little leopard gecko hatchling is doing very well. His name is Tiger as right now he's tiger-striped, but leopard geckos' stripes turn to spots as they get older. He (or she - you can't "sex" leopard geckos until they're older) is the highlight of the classroom. It helps that he's the cutest little thing ever - just look at his cute little face!! I've seen some "teenagers" though, and they definitely go through an awkward phase later. He eats about 5-6 small crickets a day and the kids love to sprinkle the vitamin powder in the bag with the crickets, then shake it up so the crickets are coated with vitamins (the crickets don't seem to like this part much) before we put them in the cage. He hasn't eaten in front of us yet, but he HAS pooped in front of the kids, which was really exciting! (and very very small). The poor thing's lifespan is probably shortened by all the noise in the classroom, although I only rarely let the kids...

Yesterday was the first day of school, which went surprisingly smoothly. 100 kids either forgot to come to school, were sick, or their parents forgot to unenroll them, and many more enrolled who had not enrolled when they were supposed to. But not one kid got sent to the office! And I do not have the emotional problem class this year! I mean, there are emotional problems, but in a proportion closer to what I'm used to. Not EVERYONE has a huge overpowering issue. As usual, I spent hundreds of dollars on necessary school supplies and I'm not done yet. (Someday I'm turning this blog into a book to make millions. Any leads??) I got a class pet (a leopard gecko hatchling as shown in the photos). I am waiting for my class list to be finalized and attempting to teach children in English and Spanish, as there weren't enough spaces in the Spanish bilingual classes. The administration is reasonable this year - it's pretty awesome. Two assistant principals and a principal who ...

I keep having all these topics I want to post about and I haven't had time to do it because we were taken off-line at school. Apparently there's some sort of upgrade or something going on in the district as a whole and they have to replace all the wiring. So, instead of waiting the three weeks until summer when it wouldn't disturb anyone, the district - in their infinite wisdom - decided to do it now. Even better is how it's happening in my school. The people doing the rewiring came to my class and cut all the wires, then decided they didn't really want to do that building, they wanted to do the other building. So they went to the other building and are rewiring it, leaving most classrooms off-line for only a couple of days. We've been off-line for almost three weeks, with those cut wires just hanging out of the wall, taunting me. There may have been more method to the madness, but I don't happen to know of it. The real problem is that a research proj...

Yes, those are lizards in my hair. We have anoles again. Four or five of them - I'm not sure, because - well, they camouflage. And I haven't looked that closely. But they are again a very big hit and again seem to have an affinity for being on the top of people's heads. The kids love to hold them, watch them, feed them, and watch them breathe (when they breathe, you can see the outline of their tiny little ribs). They (the kids, not the lizards) also love to talk about how much the anoles love them. The poor little animals are probably scared to death if they feel any emotion at all, but I'm very happy to have the kids think they are loved by lizards or by anyone else. We haven't named this batch yet. The last batch included one anole named "Jumpy" and one named after me. No kidding, in the last 6 years, I've had fish, lizards, birds, a rabbit and many dolls named after me. Almost a dog too. Almost. That would have been too much.