“Miss Classe, what’s your favorite part of a chicken?”

It was not until this moment that I had ever thought about the answer to that question, but it definitely threw me for a loop.

The kids had been working on analyzing fictional characters’ traits and had stopped to line up to go to PE when it hit me. The curve ball.

It was such a random and out of context question that normally would be so simple to answer. I was so confused that I turned to the girl and said, “I don’t know. What’s your favorite part of a chicken?”

To that, she laughed and said the legs were her favorite.

It was such a random exchange, but to her, it meant so much because now we had connected even more. 

Connections are crucial in a classroom. If you want to be able to reach your students content wise, then you need to be able to connect with them on an appropriate personal level.

Moral of the story is that if you want to connect with your students, you have to be prepared to tell them what your favorite part of a chicken is. That’s just how it is.