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By the OER Project Team
Seeing your pets and their contributions to your life has brought us all such warm and… fuzzy feelings. Thank you, teachers, for sharing photos of your furry (and sometimes scaly) friends! Sure, they may not do much actual “helping” (in fact, it seems like they tend to do a lot of sleeping on the job…), but hey, we love them anyway.
The Most Technologically Literate Pet award goes to Crookshanks and Scout. Never thought we’d see a cat that knows how to make a Powerpoint, but here we have photographic proof! Thanks to their humble servant, Michael Carman, for sharing these photos.
The award for Best Quarantine Hairdo goes to Wood Boyles’s bunny, Aspen. Hangin’ on the couch, hair sticking up, a faraway look in his eyes… Aspen is all of us, these days.
The Ultimate Side-Eye award goes to Megan Schultz’s dogs, who can’t understand why their mom is taking photos while they are CLEARLY trying to rest.
Zoom fatigue, anyone? Sirius honestly cannot take another Zoom chat, and is wondering why his best friend Rachel Riendeau would rather hang out with those little boxes on the screen than go outside and chase real-life squirrels.
And finally, we’re surprising this month’s contest winner Kimberly Milligan with some treats! Her catfish, Sparkle and Diamond, are the winners of the prestigious Most Prehistoric-Looking-And-Also-Shiniest award.
We caught up with Kimberly to ask our fishiest questions like what her favorite teaching snacks are, and how she involves her sparkly friends in the classroom.
OER Project: Do you have any words of wisdom on controlling your pets while teaching remotely?
Kimberly: I try to take them out for a walk each day before school. 
OER: Do you have your pets visit your class on a regular basis, and how do students respond?
K: My fish have been in my class videos a couple of times, but I think they’ve made more appearances in my daughter’s class chats. Her class loves showing each other their pets so it’s always a hit. My daughter gave them their names, which are Diamond and Sparkle—but there is absolutely no connection between their names and their personalities.
OER: What’s your favorite “fishy” snack while teaching?
K: We love goldfish, who doesn’t?!? We try to not eat them in front of Diamond and Sparkle of course.
OER: What tips to you have for teachers who would like to add fish to their classroom? What types of fish would you recommend are best for teachers just starting out?
K: I would definitely recommend not overfeeding them, we’ve made that mistake a couple of times. My two fish are catfish, we’ve had them now for over two years. They are very resilient and pretty cool to look at.
OER: Anything else you want to share with teachers at this time?
K: I’m so thankful for all of you in the OER Project community. I’ve never felt this level of support and I appreciate all that you share, you’ve all been so helpful and so kind.
Kimberly and daughter Odelia with thematically-appropriate gifts, and their favorite fish!
We can’t get enough pet photos! Keep sharing your own pictures, or your favorite tips and tricks for teaching with a cat pawing at your face, in the OER Project Community.
