Boats

About a week ago, I had a tough lesson to teach to a group I wasn't very familiar with. The target was to get them to comprehend a story that revolved around boats, a topic that these kids were clueless about. I spent a good bit of time struggling with my plan. Finally, I just decided to get silly, a method that seems to work well for me.

I marched into the class and had a bunch of the kids stand up and clear the desks out of the center of the room. Next, I grabbed four of them to be my subjects. The four kids were about to my boat mates. I had to explain to the class the differences between a canoe, a rowboat, and a speedboat. Also, what the heck is water skiing? In the next five minutes or so, I had the students grabbing imaginary oars and rowing the boats, steering the speedboat, and bouncing off the waves while holding on for dear life. The action was furious and the kids had a blast! For some reason, they love it when I make a fool of myself as I make silly sound effects and jump around like a monkey...

I related this goofy story to you all because yesterday, Josephine, the classes full-time teacher, told me that the class is still talking about that crazy lesson. Several of the kids in the class have asked her when Teacher David is coming back! Mission accomplished...

Those kids will remember that lesson. As a teacher, you have to be willing to throw humility/ego out the door to get the job done.