Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Sadako gets her Wish

When I was in 5th grade, a woman named Ako Hotehama visited us from Japan. She taught us the story of Sadako, and showed us how to fold paper cranes. My class folded as many as we could (I folded hundreds by myself), and sent them back with her to place at the Children's Monument in Hiroshima. I never did know whatever became of Ako or the cranes.

Then, this summer, I had the opportunity to go to Hiroshima. I remembered the story of Sadako, and as I stood by the monument, I started to tear up. I only had 75 cranes to offer this time-- not the hundreds I'd made in the past-- but it was something.

Fast forward to the current time. My students have read Sadako's story. They've read all about everything from the Treaty of Versailles to the Manhattan Project. They can tell you all about the horrors of war. And they, like myself, wanted to make Sadako's wish come true.

As of yesterday, we did it-- we folded 1,000 cranes. Over a thousand, actually.

So, I'm sending them to Japan. Stringing them in garlands of a hundred, packing them in a box, and shipping them to Sadako's monument.

My students are leaving hundreds upon hundreds of messages of hope and peace, and even more importantly-- they can become part of something bigger. When the cranes reach Japan, our class information will be put in the national registry, and my students will forever be able to look up our class and, for once, be proud of something that's left the classroom instead of just something that happens within it.

Monday, May 21, 2007

My Lack of Maturation

So, today, we had the "Maturation Assemblies."
Translation: the girls and boys of 6th grade got to learn about... PUBERTY! Woo! FUN!

(Side note: I really hate when people pronounce the word "poo-ber-ty," don't you?)

I thought I was going to be stuck with all the girls, listening about the joys of menstruation, but instead, I had the rare opportunity to babysit a group of young lads who didn't have their permission slips signed (which made me laugh-- the kids weren't responsible enough to hand in a slip about maturing? Ha! Sweet irony.).

Anyhow, next door to me, the boys were having their nice little chat.

I figured that it would start with an educational movie, circa 1970, then, I don't know, a little discussion in which the boys wouldn't say anything and the teacher would tiptoe around the subject as much as possible.

INSTEAD....I hear the gym teacher, bellowing in his militant voice, something like, "Why do we all LAUGH when we hear the word PENIS? ITS NOT FUNNY. Its not a JOKE."

Nice opener, sport.

I can already tell that I'm going to need a distraction to keep myself from laughing. Its not so much the subject material, but the way Mr. Clearly-Compensating-for-Something is speaking.
I can't tell all of what's being said next door, but every once in a while, an ennunciated word seeps through..... "blur blur blur EJACULATION!"

I pull an enormous novel out of my bookbag. The boys in my room have work to do, but their eyes are fixed on me. I musn't react! I musn't react! I pull the novel in front of my face so they can't see my expression. I bite the sides of my cheeks, and I hear...

"and that's when you get an ERECTION!"

Oh, sweet lord. My smirk turns to a smile and threatens to break, and then the gym teacher screams...

"You get a little WOOD!"

The entire class next door cracks up, I chortle along with them. Oh, sweet release.

Sex ed certainly has changed a lot from when I was in 6th grade.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

That's it.

I have 9 days left.

I'm completely and utterly burnt out... yet I can't believe the year is over.

Friday, May 11, 2007

My 6th Graders Rock.

News:

I'm teaching a group of kids high school/college level cellular biology. To be more specific: DNA replication (and they better spell deoxyribonucleic acid correctly!), transcription, translation, cloning, mutations, genetically enhanced foods, Watson/Crick/Franklin etc etc etc.

I was told by someone close to me "There's no way you can make that fun."

HELL YES I CAN!

We made DNA out of pipe cleaners and beads. We have a DNA cheer. We have a chromosome dance. We made amino acid necklaces (by using transcription and translation, of course). We discuss the possibility of being your own sister and mother (cloning, of course).....

Next week, we're going to discuss genetics, do some punnet squares, and do some genetic engineering of our own and "create" some chimeras out of clay.

SO THERE!

One of my girls told me a couple days ago that this year was the FIRST YEAR SHE'S HAD SCIENCE OR HISTORY.

AHHHH!!!!

What an incredible disservice! My kids LOVE science. My kids LOVE history. They're both so damn fascinating-- the content.... they NEED the content! Sigh.


Yesterday I said "How many of you thought history would be or WAS boring previously to this year?"
All my kids raised their hands.
"How many of you like history?" All of my kids raised their hands.

Aww yeah.

How many 6th graders do you know who love talking about Josef Mengele and WWII battles and the Hindenburg?

Berlin Wall? Check. Cold War? Treaty of Versailles? Conscription? Reconaissance? Harry Truman? FDR? Greer Incident? Kristallnacht? Night of Long Knives? Auschwitz's Block 11?

They've got it all, baby.

I love my job.