Can’t Everyone Walk Through Walls?

Yesterday my new students this semester were working on a student information sheet that asked them questions so I could get to know them better. One of the questions was: If you could have two superpowers, what would they be and why? The students were excited to write down their answers and were having great discussions about the value of different superpowers.
One of my new students, whose English speaking skills weren’t exactly great, asked me to explain what the question meant. I said, “You need to think of two superpowers…or special powers or cool things you wish you could do.” He nodded.
I said, “What about flying?” He paused for a moment, then shook his head no.
“What about walking through walls?” He thought about it, then shook his head no.
So, I tried another, “What if you could close your eyes and wake up anywhere in the world that you wanted?” He looked very confused. He looked at all the other kids writing their superpowers and seemed to get very frustrated. He shook his head no.
It then dawned on me that he thought that I was asking him what superpowers he actually had. He must have felt very strange looking at everyone else making their list of superpowers…wondering why he didn’t have any. Wondering if Americans are crazy mutants.
I said, “No…What superpowers do you wish you could have? If you could what superpowers would you want?” He let out a sigh of relief, smiled and nodded excitedly. He then proceeded to put down flying and reading minds as his superpowers.
What an interesting and hilarious incident.

12 thoughts on “Can’t Everyone Walk Through Walls?”

LOL- that’s like thinking you’re at Professor X’s school. Just wondering when Wolverine was going to show off his claws: oh soooo cool.

One of my students said that her superpowers would be: the ability to fly and the abilty to get a dog for free. What the heck?

Dude, why not expand that power to getting everything for free? She obviously didn’t give it much thought, or her parent’s are refusing to allow her a dog, and she’s fixated on the idea.

Flying and Super Genius. Oh wait…

How ’bout a big, fat head? Oh wait, you already have that covered…

Whoa Neal! You just totally insulted Andy Fast! Not to be done lightly, my friend.
I totally love the “Get a dog for free” superpower. What would it look like? Would you hold up a ring and yell “Free dog!” and suddenly a nice little dog would drop down from the sky into your arms? How would that work? Would it already have a collar and stuff?
If we’re making that a superpower, then my desired superpowers are “Super Glasses” and “Lightning-fast baloney sandwich.”

Ohhh, I wasn’t insulting him: most of us know how humble Andy is, I was just teasing him, which I’m sure he knows.
I think my two preferred powers would be rather traditional, considering my love of comics and frequent daydreams on that subject. I think flying is my number 1. There’s just so much coolness to that idea that I can’t let it go. Lastly, Wolverine’s healing/speed/sensing (all one power: honest) ability would be next up. I have a strong nose already, and it would be cool to be able to use the rest of my senses more, as well as heal very, very fast.

Does your nose lift weights?

I would love super-speed (which would include super-speed thought and vision and protection from the elements, as the Flash had. He could actually vibrate his body’s molecules so fast that he could walk through anything and could catch a tachyon. And being so fast he could make a tornado with his arm run a light beam instead of flying. And he was definitely faster than Superman, no doubt) and flying (I’d rather not create a tornado or limit myself to light beams to get in the air).

I just realized how hilarious it is that my student didn’t understand what I was asking him to do. Then, he asked for the superpower of reading minds. I wonder if he feels that way often since his English is terrible in an English-speaking country.

I totally agree with Steph’s superpowers, but why stop at 2? My third would be the ability to get Matt ready to go somewhere and out of the house in under 2 hours, say, 10 mins. That would be sweet.

I like Walking throught walls. And it could be posible. All you would have to do is enhanse your matabalism which would speedup your molicules and you could pass through walls. But you wuld create way too much energy so you would have to stor it.

Neal on January 28, 2004 at 12:36 pm said:

LOL- that’s like thinking you’re at Professor X’s school. Just wondering when Wolverine was going to show off his claws: oh soooo cool.
Steph on January 28, 2004 at 5:49 pm said:

One of my students said that her superpowers would be: the ability to fly and the abilty to get a dog for free. What the heck?
Neal on January 28, 2004 at 6:04 pm said:

Dude, why not expand that power to getting everything for free? She obviously didn’t give it much thought, or her parent’s are refusing to allow her a dog, and she’s fixated on the idea.
Andy on January 28, 2004 at 7:41 pm said:

Flying and Super Genius. Oh wait…
Neal on January 28, 2004 at 10:24 pm said:

How ’bout a big, fat head? Oh wait, you already have that covered…
Josh on January 29, 2004 at 10:23 am said:

Whoa Neal! You just totally insulted Andy Fast! Not to be done lightly, my friend.
I totally love the “Get a dog for free” superpower. What would it look like? Would you hold up a ring and yell “Free dog!” and suddenly a nice little dog would drop down from the sky into your arms? How would that work? Would it already have a collar and stuff?
If we’re making that a superpower, then my desired superpowers are “Super Glasses” and “Lightning-fast baloney sandwich.”
Neal on January 29, 2004 at 10:46 am said:

Ohhh, I wasn’t insulting him: most of us know how humble Andy is, I was just teasing him, which I’m sure he knows.
I think my two preferred powers would be rather traditional, considering my love of comics and frequent daydreams on that subject. I think flying is my number 1. There’s just so much coolness to that idea that I can’t let it go. Lastly, Wolverine’s healing/speed/sensing (all one power: honest) ability would be next up. I have a strong nose already, and it would be cool to be able to use the rest of my senses more, as well as heal very, very fast.
eddie on January 29, 2004 at 2:12 pm said:

Does your nose lift weights?
eddie on January 29, 2004 at 2:20 pm said:

I would love super-speed (which would include super-speed thought and vision and protection from the elements, as the Flash had. He could actually vibrate his body’s molecules so fast that he could walk through anything and could catch a tachyon. And being so fast he could make a tornado with his arm run a light beam instead of flying. And he was definitely faster than Superman, no doubt) and flying (I’d rather not create a tornado or limit myself to light beams to get in the air).
Steph on January 31, 2004 at 8:31 pm said:

I just realized how hilarious it is that my student didn’t understand what I was asking him to do. Then, he asked for the superpower of reading minds. I wonder if he feels that way often since his English is terrible in an English-speaking country.
Aimee on February 7, 2004 at 12:45 am said:

I totally agree with Steph’s superpowers, but why stop at 2? My third would be the ability to get Matt ready to go somewhere and out of the house in under 2 hours, say, 10 mins. That would be sweet.
EBoy7 on October 29, 2004 at 7:31 pm said:

I like Walking throught walls. And it could be posible. All you would have to do is enhanse your matabalism which would speedup your molicules and you could pass through walls. But you wuld create way too much energy so you would have to stor it.