Insects and spiders don't freak me out. (They may gross me out, though.) This can be useful in the classroom.
I finally made it back to the continuation high school. It's been a while. This day I was covering an English class. They were supposed to be reading and analyzing a current event article. And some of them were.
The boy hadn't been doing much, but he had finally settled down. Just when I thought all was well, he jumped out of his seat and ran halfway across the room.
"Crickets creep me out."
The rest of the class found this amusing.
"Do you move that fast when the cops show up?"
"If you had stepped on it, it would no longer be an issue."
The boy's response (to the second comment): "I can't kill it. Crickets are lucky." (He didn't respond to the first comment.)
This is the point where I got involved. I did my usual when there are critters in the classroom (or spiders in my shower--so long as I saw it before I turned on the water). I found a clear container (the teacher had a plastic cup with markers and highlighters in it) and put it over the cricket. (It was a big cricket. I'll give the boy that.)
The boy then jumped in. I guess he felt his manhood had been questioned. He started to scoot it out the door. But I called a stop to that as the only reason I had left the cricket under the cup was to go and find a folder to put underneath. Once I had that in hand, I took the whole thing outside, and the cricket was dumped in the bushes a few steps outside the classroom.
The class concurred that crickets were lucky. That one sure was. It lived past its encounter with the scary high school class.
LOL, I can imagine the whole scene...I would have tried to do exactly what you did.
ReplyDeleteThanks. We've got to be careful with insects in the classroom...
DeleteToo funny with him and the cricket :) But I guess he wasn't expecting to see one in the classroom :)
ReplyDeletebetty
Hi Liz - well the cricket lived that's the important thing - well done. cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteCrickets don't freak me out unless it is one of those cave crickets! They remind me of a cricket with spider legs, and spiders do freak me out!!!! LOL. Great job on the rescue of the cricket!
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I've ever seen a cave cricket. Yikes. I think that might be a good thing.
DeleteI catch and release as well. Odd that a young man would be freaked out by a cricket though.
ReplyDeleteI think crickets are cool. Not very common to find them indoors in the UK!
ReplyDeleteI hate crickets. They chirp ceaselessly when you're trying to sleep. I want to burn them all down.
ReplyDeletehmmm. I think you should have a stash of crickets and when he acts up, tell him he better behave or you will release these over his head. :)
ReplyDeleteThat would be more trouble than it's worth.
DeleteCrickets creep me out too lol Glad you saved the day though ;)
ReplyDeleteNot so much a save-the-day moment as a stop-the-kiddo-from-shrieking moment.
DeleteCan't say I've ever cared about crickets one way or another, but my general policy when it comes to most bugs in my house is to take them outside. No reason to kill them unless they're a direct threat.
ReplyDeleteEven house spiders get a pass (although I try to put them up in a nook or cranny since I know house spiders will die in the out in the garden)
Crickets can be annoying. Loud.
DeleteI have heard that the Praying Mantis is lucky but not crickets. They're called Toe-Biters in Australia!
ReplyDeleteI think the lucky thing comes from the Disney movie Mulan.
DeleteI'm not scared of spiders and always do what you did with cricket to put them outside. I'm a little superstitios about them, though, as my mother always used to say this little rhyme: 'If you want to live and thrive, let a spider run alive.'
ReplyDeleteThat's Purrfect
*superstitious !!
DeleteI have no superstitions about insects and the like. I also have no tolerance for them in places they shouldn't be!
ReplyDeleteYeah, they definitely belong outside.
DeleteCrickets don't creep me out but they sure are annoying when I'm trying to sleep and one is hiding in the room.
ReplyDeleteAgreed.
DeleteSounds like it was that cricket's lucky day anyway. Had it been here in Oz I reckon it might have needed to be hosed out after class.
ReplyDeleteYikes. That doesn't sound good ;)
DeleteIf it surprised me, I probably would have jumped and run too. It's not that crickets themselves scare me, but seeing any insect I'm not expecting that just seems to appear out of nowhere does. I love that kid's comment about "if you just stepped on it, there wouldn't be a problem". lol. Too true. I guess you were the cricket's savior that day. :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, the jolt of the unexpected. That'd startle anyone.
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