awkward teaching moments

I can't remember what my class and I were talking about last week. I think it was monkeys. One of my students is so sassy, I just love her. And she's a little white girl. And in the midst of our conversation she raised her hand to share with the class.

"I'm a porch monkey!"

I immediately bristled, ready to launch into my racism discussion, but looking at her face I thought maybe I should do a little more investigating first.

"I don't know what that means. Can you tell me why you said you're a porch monkey?"

She got a big smile on her face and said, "Because I like to sit on the porch with a big ol' stack of bananas!!"

Hmm. Ok. Just for a little while longer you can be a porch monkey.

P.S. These crayons were carved by Pete Goldlust.