things you might not know

It's a Friday and when I walk into class, 12 of my 17 students are absent.  Some are on an art field trip to the Salvador Dali Museum, others are at Epcot touring the French-speaking pavilions, a third group is on a forensics trip, and the rest are at a college meeting with a rep from FSU.

My planned lesson no longer possible, I scramble into lateral reinforcement mode.  All teachers know this place.  Our best laid plans in shambles, we throw something together that helps the students practice whatever we have been studying with a little more depth. 

Before we start, I ask the remaining five students to teach me something they know about that I might not. They get to take on the role of teacher, and I become the student.  It's an interesting exercise for everyone.  Here's what I learned, although I make no promises as to the veracity of this information. 

• When rowing, one should activate body parts in the following order:  legs, back, arms
• Johnny Cash burned down a national forest by crashing his car into a tree and leaving it there
• Our weight-lifting coach, Mrs. Miller, has mastered the death stare and when she trains it on you, be very afraid
• Monkey's guitarist Mike Nesbitt's mom invented liquid paper.
• When scuba diving, nitrogen builds up in the bloodstream, causing a feeling of intoxication 

Your turn.  Teach me something...

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