Highlights of Teaching

A few of you may have forgotten that I am actually in Georgia for the purpose of teaching, not to roam the  countryside and sleep in strangers' homes.  Teaching, as I have mentioned before, is entirely new to me.  There have been many ups and downs, due to both the cultural differences and my unfamiliarity with the task at hand.  However, the highlights have been magnificent.  I would have never, ever thought that teaching my 5th grade the hokey pokey would put me in such a good mood.  Alas, life is full of surprises.  Here are some highlights from teaching:

• Teaching a lesson to the 8th, 9th and 10th grades about Lady Gaga.  My students had to read an article and tell me their opinions.  I later gave them articles about Banksy, Shepard Fairy and Johnny Depp.  Hearing their opinions and helping them articulate themselves in English was a great feeling. 
• Teaching my 3rd grade "I Can Sing a Rainbow."  Turns out I am tone deaf and shouldn't be teaching young, impressionable children how to sing.  Nonetheless, it was great fun.
• Teaching the hokey pokey to my 5th grade.  They needed to learn right and left and this was my solution.  They really got into the dancing aspect and suddenly I heard a loud thump. Luca had fallen down somehow, but he got right back up and continued dancing.
• I wanted to teach the 5th grade the different parts of the body, but didn't have access to a printer to make a diagram of the human body.  My solution?  I created labels for each body part and asked a student to volunteer to come up to the front of the class.  The other students then had to attach the right label to the right part, i.e. head, arm, hand.  I followed this up with a rousing round of "head, shoulders, knees and toes."
• Asking the 11th grade conditional questions such as: "If I you won the lottery, what would you do?"; "If you could be an animal, what would you be?"; and "If you were stuck on a desert island, what would you bring?"  Alas, these kids are much too nice and practical. Answers included: I would give money to the poor and I would bring wood, matches, clothing, a compass and water to the island.  My answer?  I would bring my ipod to the island.  
• Playing Guess Who? with the 9th grade and having them practice describing people. 
• Throwing my "magic" ball at students.  Wait, it is not as bad as it sounds.  If they catch the ball they have to answer the question.  It keeps them awake and paying attention at the very least.  My 5th grade can handle this with the utmost maturity, however, those pesky resource development officers (i.e. the adult students) had to have the ball taken away after someone threw it at another student's head. 
• Encouraging the students who have been labeled "lazy" and getting them to speak.  Some have become more and more vocal over the past few months, which pleases me to no end.

My low point: trying to unteach Georgians the phrase "shut up."  It sounds awful when they say this, and somehow everyone knows this phrase.  At least they sometimes say "shut up please."