Subbing Stories

Warning!  The following post may not be suitable for any reader who is uncomfortable with reading anything that may be discussed in a 7th grade health class.  

The health teacher in my building had a baby last night, a little girl named Kate (if I would have known she was planning to use that name, I would have warned her...)  There are two points to me telling you this:

1.  She worked all day yesterday, and had the baby at 7:00 last night.  I am in total awe of her.  I also hope that I go that fast.  (I don't think I'll be nearly as lucky)

2.  I got to sub in health today again!

Since tomorrow is the last day of the trimester, the students had put together presentations that they gave today.  Luckily, there was a grading rubric so I had no problems in grading their projects.  They had nine choices for projects and had to choose three.  I'll give you the highlights on what I saw in two classes today:

• One group created a board game based on the female reproductive system.  If you went the wrong way on the board, you came to a dead end (i.e., that fallopian tube wasn't working).
• Another group created a "Go Fish" - style game where you had to find pairs of the male reproductive system.  The cards didn't have words, but pictures of all of the male parts.  For example, penis, vas deferens, testes....you get the idea.
• Several students created their own obituaries.  The most interesting deaths?  Mad cow disease and hit in the head with a hockey puck.
• A few kids presented about different STD's.  They all giggled when they talked about how you could contract diseases like genital herpes.  (7th graders should never use the words "oral" and "anal" in the same sentence.  They can't do it without giggling.)
• Some of them wrote a newspaper column, similar to a "Dear Abby" article.  For example, one girl wrote, "Dear Health Nut, I just switched from pads to tampons, but now have some weird symptoms, like rash and fever.  What should I do?" 

And maybe the best of all....

• Students made both the male and female reproductive systems out of food.  I saw a uterus made out of M&Ms, a bladder made out of a Ding Dong (I thought these would have been better for the testes, but what do I know), plenty of urethras and fallopian tubes made of licorice, and a penis made out of a Fruit Roll-Up.  

And if you're wondering, yes, they had to present this to the entire class.  Out loud.  Talking.  Honestly, how they made it through without a lot of giggling is beyond me.  I felt a little embarrassed at times!

Ah, how I love to sub....