The last time I taught at the marsh, March seemed so far away, such a long time to have to wait. And now, March is suddenly here, and I'm already back to teaching, as of today!

And what a day it was! Twenty third graders, ten chaperones. That's my kind of class! The kids were really cool, too. The worst thing I had to deal with today was mild inattentiveness, and that was only one group. The other two groups were great, and my last group of the day was the very best one. I love it when that happens!

Group #1 made me laugh. I always tell the kids not to talk while I'm talking before we ever get started. But then I began asking questions to make sure we were all on the same page and all I got were blank stares. I have this demo kit thing where I shake sand and water in a jar and then I ask them to tell me what happens when I stop shaking the jar. The answer is, "The sand sinks to the bottom." But these kids just stared at me.

I'll rephrase the question, Your Honor. "What happened to the sand when I stopped shaking the jar?" As I asked the question I pointed to the top of the jar, and then the bottom, where it had settled, drawing the line it had just traveled.

No answer! I laughed a little, because I felt like saying, "Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?"

Their teacher was mortified. "You guys! Answer the question! What happened to the sand? You think it sank to the bottom? It's not a trick question!"

"Maybe they're making it harder than it is," one parent mused.

"Yeah. Guys, I'm not going to ask hard questions. Also? It's totally okay to answer my questions when I ask them. In fact, I kind of prefer it!"

They remained mostly quiet the rest of the time.

The second group, as I said, was a little inattentive. They'd walk away when I was mid-sentence! One kid was funny, because when I said, "Okay, are there any questions so far?" he raised his hand and said, "How much do you get paid for this job?"

"Well okay, we're not talking about that at all, are we?" I said. "Let's move on!"

The third group was the most fun. They listened, they answered my questions correctly right when I asked them, they were excited about everything we talked about. This one boy was great, because he kept stopping me and saying, "Wait, let me get this straight..." Then he'd almost have it, so I'd re-explain it in different terms, or break it down even further, and he'd say excitedly, "All right, got it!"

Of course, that kid was also the one who, at nearly the end of the tour, said, "Yeah, yeah. Hurry up, I'm hungry!"

"Wow, that was actually really rude!" I said, with genuine surprise rather than anger. Then I just continued on with my shpiel.

The third group also got to experience the coolest thing I have ever seen in my two years of teaching there! An otter, up close and personal!!

Yep, otters live at the marsh. We see their scat often, and occasionally see them swimming in the water, at a distance. This morning was very exciting, because when the whole class sat together, we saw an otter swimming out in the water! Everyone rushed out of their seats and shushed each other as we stared at the water. Some of the kids jumped up and down a little, chatting quiety and giggling. They smiled even wider when we told them how unusual that is!

I didn't expect anything more exciting than that, but the third group and I got a real treat. I walked the kids over to one bank of the marsh, where the water is pumped from the last station of the waste water treatment plant into this man-made marsh. There are often lots of tiny fish swimming by the mouth of the pipe. I heard one of the kids' fathers say, "Look, an otter!" I turned and saw a happy little otter face peek up at us before he splashed under the water and dove into the pipe! The kids were worried he'd swim all the way to the last station (a UV Light station) and be burned. I told them the current would be too strong for him to get that far. It didn't occur to me then, but I'm sure there are bars inside the pipe, too, to prevent animals from getting very far.

We stood there, waiting and watching, for a long time. Then we saw a tail, as the otter slid back with the current a little ways. He flipped his tail and his body as he struggled to stay put inside that pipe. Everyone laughed, as he seemed to be having a great time. Most of the group only saw the back half of the otter, as he was determined to keep his head underwater and they can hold their breath for several minutes! The kids all wanted to know what he was doing in there, and my best guess is that he was snacking on all those tiny fish.

It was highly entertaining to watch an otter in the wild (something I've never seen before!), and up close, at that! His swimming and splashing and twisting gracefully in the water as he swam in and out of the pipe was an extremely cool sight to see and I'm awed and grateful that I was there to witness that today. I'll keep an eye out for him next week, too, I'm sure!

That totally made my day, as did the friendliness of the kids and chaperones. One boy even came up to all of us teachers and shook each of our hands as he thanked us. How cute is that??

I have to say, I had a great time teaching again. It's good to be back.

By the way, while I was looking for the entry I wrote about the last time I taught at the marsh, I realized that it's the same entry in which I rambled about other things, including the show, Average Joe.

I just thought I'd mention that I wrote a few words about Average Joe 2: Hawaii over here, if anyone cares to read that.