The first few days of school always consist of some activities/ice-breakers for students to get to know their new classmates and for me to get to know my new students. I love learning about their interests and their families, and kids just LOVE to share and talk about themselves. Some parents may not realize how much teachers really know about a student's home life . . . and many teachers learn WAY too much from chatty students. Divorces, arguments, lost jobs, illnesses, bathroom habits . . . we've heard it all, even if we really didn't want to know. Here's an example from last week's "getting to know you" activity called "What's in Your Bag?"
Students were instructed to bring five items in a brown bag. Each student then had to "show and tell" about his or her five items and their significance. Most students brought trophies, their favorite book, or pictures of their family.
A little boy in my class decided to bring the ultrasound pictures of his soon-to-be-born baby brother. He started sharing about it saying, "This is my favorite item because it's a picture of my baby brother that is coming." The kids all said, "Awwwww" and wanted to know when the little baby would be born. I encouraged them to save their questions for the end. The boy continues to share, "And now my mom is 1 centimeter dilated!"
I thought to myself, "Did he really just say that?!" My worst fears were confirmed when I heard many voices echoing the same question: "What does 1 centimeter dilated mean?" "Dilated? I don't know what that is." "Huh? 1 centimeter dilated?"
Flustered and anxious, I tried to stop all questions by shouting out, "Boys and girls, remember to save all your questions until the end!!" Well, sure enough, when the end came my curious 4th graders hadn't forgotten their question . . . "What does it mean to be 1 centimeter dilated." I just sat there thinking, "Omigod, how on earth is he going to answer this question? . . . Will it be inappropriate? . . . What do I do? . . . Am I going to get angry phone calls from parents? . . . Ahhhhh . . . how do I explain this?"
The boy calmly answered, "That means that the hole where the baby comes out has grown 1 centimeter."
UNCOMFORTABLE PAUSE
The rest of the class: "The HOLE where the baby comes out?!"
Me: "Okay, okay, that was three questions . . . thank you _______ for sharing. NEXT!"
2 comments:
Love this story! And very well written, too! Can't wait to read more! :)
That's AWESOME!! Way to keep your cool!! I bet your going to have a BLAST this year!! Are you "Mrs Walton" this year or still going by your maiden name?
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