Do Ducks have a Penis?

Recently I read Daily Rituals: How Artists Work, it’s an interesting book that goes through the life and process of creatives. The 3 most common themes were the consumption of alcohol , caffeine, and taking walks.

I’m not advocating that you start drinking heavily, instead we’re going to focus on the movement part of the equation. Research is finding that taking a walk can increase creative ideas for up to two hours. Really no need to run a marathon or climb a mountain, just take a walk.

While I can’t spend every class period taking my students for walks, ( we wouldn’t have time to make anything) From time to time, we go for walks, and do some journaling and sketching along the way.

When I look out my classroom window, see the sun shining and a cool breeze blowing, this always seems like a brilliant plan, I pat myself on the back for being so smart.

However, after about 5 minutes outside with a class full of teenagers, that have been stuck inside all day, constrained with all sorts of rules, I no longer feel so smart.

They spot a snake and the entire class takes off, it seems as though they’ve never seen a snake before. I have to remind them, that they are welcome to look at the snake, but we won’t be catching it today. ( I don’t have a desire to tell the school that one of the students was bitten by a snake)

Next they spot some ducks. We are walking by a lake, that is swarmed by ducks everyday, but they must chase them, and respond once again as though this if their first duck sighting.

And before I know it,  there are three kids scaling a tree. Well scaling might not be the right word, as the climb isn’t even close to graceful.

One side of me is thrilled that they’re moving, exploring, and being playful. The other side of me is waiting for one of them to fall out of the tree, I’m seeing my name in the newspaper and a lawsuit coming my way.

We’ve become paranoid about things like this, as we’ve surrounded ourselves with rules, and staying indoors.

The creative side of me wins, and they climb the trees.

There are many families at the lake, and I can sense them getting nervous, that’s a common side affect of teenagers. People don’t seem to know what to do around them.

And then, I hear one of my students yelling to his friends, ” Do you think ducks have a penis?”

Really, is this happening. I’m waiting for the parents to start covering their children’s ears.

While I’m not close to the student, I need the conversation to stop. So I yell his name, ” H”, he looks up at me, and yells, what,? that’s a valid question.

I’m heading his direction, and all eyes are on me, wondering how I”m going to deal with the situation. I give the look. That one that says, shut up now, stop speaking, and many other things that a look can say, but I”m not allowed to, and that I surely can’t shout.

He looks confused, but stops.

Later, he says, I guess I shouldn’t have been yelling that, there were little kids around. Ahhh , yes you got it.

It’s time to go back to school. Calmly I walk over to the trees filled with my students, and tell them it’s time to come down, one claims that she doesn’t think she’s going to be able to descend without breaking a leg.

The students are to write down 5 questions about anything. ( this is part of the creative process)

We get inside, I sit down at my desk and begin reading the questions. Suddenly everyone has a lot of questions about the anatomy of ducks, maybe we’ll cover that next class.

Want to grow your creative process? Sign up for the FREE 30 day creativity challenge. You’ll receive short prompts, tricks and tips to get your creative juices flowing each day.