Teaching Sex Education

In class today we started our class with an unusual ice breaker. A few volunteers were asked to pick a card from the professor’s bag, read it and say the word loudly. Words picked were “semen,” “cervix,” “erection,” and “ovaries.” If the students did not speak loud enough, our professor would say, “What? I can’t hear you.” It seemed absurd at the time, but the professor’s explanation of using this in a classroom helped. It was to get some of the giggles out and help the students listen more effectively. From there we were asked if we considered ourselves prepared to teach about different aspects of sex education. What we thought we were confident about became less so when we later chose some questions about sex education to discuss in pairs and then micro-teach to the rest of the class.

As adults, most of us felt fairly confident about our sex education, especially since many of us in the class are already parents, but this class exercise showed us that teaching others requires a different set of knowledge. We needed to think about our vocabulary choice to make sure our choice of words was not only accurate but would not make someone feel that they or their family were abnormal. We were cautioned to think what a parent’s reaction might be if their child shared what they had learned in school that day, especially regarding cultural or controversial issues. The example given was abortion. We were encouraged to be honest in our teaching but to accompany it with sensitivity, recognizing that the strong feelings many have on this issue is the basis for what is called the abortion debate.

Mindsets

Our class discussed some excerpts today from Mindset by Carol Dweck. There are two different mindsets, the fixed mindset and the growth mindset. The fixed mindset focuses on there being only one solution and has a fear of failure, whereas the growth mindset learns from failure, and even replaces that word with words like redirection or new opportunities. I believe that I have a growth mindset, as one of the reasons I am becoming a teacher is because I love learning so much, but I always try to do my best and feel badly if others feel that what I do is not good enough for them. I like the strategies used in Mindset to not praise others for their natural talents and abilities but for the work that they have put in. On the other hand, I am not sure I agree with the author when she apologizes to her students when they found the work too easy and then promises to give them something they “can really learn from!” (p. 179). I think sometimes it is good to have some easier assignments instead of only having challenging ones. Perhaps I am feeling that way because of the strenuous work load in my classes right now, but I can’t help but feel the need for a balance in life. I think sometimes it is good to have less challenging assignments that may be more enjoyable than challenging.

When to report abuse

Today our class heard a speaker telling us that certain professions, such as school personnel, must report suspected incidents of non-accidental physical or sexual abuse or they can be charged with a gross misdemeanor, since most abusers do not abuse only one time. They continue abusing even after typically promising that it will never happen again. We also learned that abuse can be negligent treatment, such as malnutrition, or mental abuse, another type of abuse that should be reported as well but is harder to prove. We were given sample scenarios to determine which ones would be defined as abuse and the State Government Social Health Services, at 1-800-562-5624, would need to be notified.

It will be a big responsibility for me to recognize and report abuse, but I am glad that schools are being proactive in this by assuring we understand the law. Our class talked about some ways to recognize possible abuse in kids, such as a child who is withdrawn, or shows fear toward his parents, or shows inappropriate physical or sexual behavior toward others. Often times the victim becomes an abuser, because the victim has a need to feel in control. The rule of thumb is if you suspect abuse, you must report it.

I think the most important thing I learned was that just because something sounds far-fetched doesn’t mean it’s not possible. Examples of previous abusive punishments were one child having to walk on mousetraps and another having to kneel on uncooked rice for fifteen minutes. One of the class members felt these sounded more like torture to her. I also learned that it is important to speak the child’s language back to them, not to paraphrase what they tell you. We learned that soft tissue, like the cheek, upper arm and torso do not typically bruise by themselves. If a person falls, that person will try to catch him or herself and should also have marks on their hands and possibly knees. The marks would match the scenario of the injury.

Class Drama

We are continuing to have microteachings, about 30 minutes each, in our health/fitness class. I am really enjoying these presentations and am learning by first observing and then hearing the feedback that the rest of the class offers after they have concluded their teaching. On this day, these lessons were designed for both the third graders and the first graders. The third graders went first. They learned what constitutes an emergency and when to call 911. Our presenters divided the students into groups of six and gave each group a different scenario to determine the outcome and then act out. In my group, I played a mom who accidentally cuts herself severely with a knife as she is washing dishes. This wound was so bad that I could not stop the bleeding and went into shock. Fortunately, my “daughters” were nearby and rushed in and called 911 when they saw my condition. It was a fun exercise, and later as I watched the other skits acting out their different scenarios, I felt this was a good way to assess the class to see if they understood the material and was something I might attempt in my future class as an assessment.

As the next group began, they immediately welcomed us as first graders and invited us to come and sit on the floor in front of them. Being in that position, several in the audience started to act as if they really were in the first grade. They even challenged the teachers, such as when the class was asked to refer back to the coloring books that they had been working on earlier, and one girl remarked that she had lost hers. It was good to see how the teacher redirected her and others with responses like, “It’s okay. You can have another.” The patience shown them was as it should have been in a real class of first graders. Being put on the floor below the teachers made me wonder, though, how first graders feel when they are asked to sit on the floor with the teacher looming above them. It can be an intimidating position looking up at teachers, and when you are asked to sit on the floor, it reinforces that position. I am learning this quarter that just because something has always been done a certain way does not mean that it cannot be questioned.

To sweeten or not to sweeten

Today our class had two groups presenting our first microteachings. Both groups did a great job involving the class and demonstrated the importance of class interaction. The first group led us in an activity checking our heart rates both at rest and then after jogging in place for a minute. This showed us how fast the heart rate can change, while we were also taught what our maximum heart rates should be: 220 minus our age. It was helpful to see how including physical exercise with a lesson makes the lesson easier to pay attention to, as well as easier to remember later, but the second group totally amazed me with their activity involving sugar.

The students in the class were told to pick a partner to work with. The one was to stand up with her arms straight down by her side and her palms facing out while the other would try to pull her arms upwards. I volunteered to be the one to keep my arms down and surprised my partner by being able to resist her best efforts to raise my arms. Afterwards, those of us who were holding our arms down by our sides were asked to eat a tiny bit of sugar and repeat the exercise. After the sugar, I was no longer able to resist my partner, and she raised my arms almost effortlessly. I was amazed at the difference. We were told that because our bodies were now trying to metabolize the sugar, it robbed our bodies of some of our strength.

This exercise made me realize how important it can be to grab the class’s attention with something that can involve them personally. As a participant, it made me want to know more about additional side effects of sugar, and I think it would affect elementary students in a similar way. It was brought out in the feedback that in classes of children fifth grade or younger that it may not have worked as well however, due to some boys tendencies to wrestle and play tough. It was presented to us as a fifth grade lesson, but would it have been better for seventh graders? It also made me wonder if presentations without experiments or activities will be as interesting to the class.

The race

We divided into groups, went outside, and had a relay race which ended in putting together paper skeletons. The goal of our activity: to see how an activity may be included within a lesson plan teaching on the skeletal system. This came out of a lesson plan for fifth graders from The Great Body Shop curriculum. We observed that when the class travels to another location, such as going outside the building, it may give the students an energy boost, but it can also be time demanding. This made me wonder if this was an effective learning tool. It was fun, but did it teach?

I think if I had done this within a class, I would have spent some time teaching the class about the skeleton structure before the race, rather than wait until we were in a competitive race and have them learn by trial and error how the bones fit together. We learned that not only do lesson plans need clear learning objectives, but for every learning objective there should be assessment criteria describing how this should take place. Looking through the grade level expectations (GLEs), I saw that this would be applicable for GLEs 1.1.1, 1.2.2, 1.2.3 and 2.2.1. In other words, by participating in this, 5th graders would be engaging together and showing appropriate cooperation skills to complete the relay within the rules/parameters of the event.

Health Education

I will be writing over the next six weeks about a class I am currently taking on health, fitness, and issues of abuse. The class began with us being shown a sample concept map, and then we were asked to create our own map about health education. After being given post-it notes, we were asked to create individual “sticky-notes” with each one highlighting a different category of health education. After a few minutes, we shared our notes with each one at our table and worked together to combine them to create a group concept map.

Our group focused on nutrition, fitness, and the mental and physical attributes of the body and the way they connect with each other. I was amazed to see how broad a subject health can be to teach. It encompasses so many different areas and the sub-categories often cannot be limited to just one field. For instance, exercise is important to maintain fitness but also is important to both physical and emotional health, as well as requiring proper nutrition to be in peak form. When we presented our map to the rest of the class and compared theirs with ours, we saw that each of the other groups had similar struggles of where to place the subcategories and surprisingly, there seemed to be no right or wrong method.

I am wondering if all concept maps will be as challenging to create as this one was and if this will be a good concept to use with elementary students. Our group went through some confusion and frustration trying to come to a consensus and finish the project in the amount of time we were given, and when we could not decide at times, one of us would make the decision to write something down in order for us to finish on time. Perhaps if the subject were not as broad as health education, or we had more time to organize, it might be an easier group project. Our class was told that we will have an opportunity in the future to create a different group concept map, and I am thinking that it might be easier now that we have done one. Seeing the other groups’ concept maps also helped me to see how we could do a better job in the future. We will see.