Cat Videos On The Internet

“And, please don’t waste time watching cat videos on the internet.”

That’s how I ended the instructions to my crew a few days ago. It’s actually something I say a lot. It’s what I hope will be a funny way to follow up on my instructions that they make use of this time for something academic, i.e. homework, classwork, reading etc. We only had about 20 minutes and they had no interest in playing a game or doing a check-in.

My instructions did lead to a telling interaction:

Student: “What did you do for fun when you were in 8th grade, Mr. McKellar?”

Me: “I watched cats.”

Student: “I don’t understand.”

Me: “I watched cats.”

Student: “I don’t understand.”

Me: “I watched cats, actual cats”

Student: “I don’t understand.”

Me: “The internet hadn’t been invented yet.”

Student: “Okay, but I still don’t understand.”

Me: “I watched cats, real cats”

Student: “I don’t understand. How did you do that?”

Me. “We had cats and used to watch them play….in real life….not on a screen…in my backyard - real cats!”

Student: “Ohhhhhhhhh, I understand.”