Learning Together

 This is a story about teaching something I know little about to kids I don't know at all.

On Thursday I received an email from my assistant principal that a 6th grade Science teacher wasn't feeling well and would be leaving. I had to cover her 10th period class.

When I received the instructions it was noted that this would be a difficult class, and she provided a couple of suggestions.

I have covered a lot of classes this year, and most of the time it is 7th graders. I know almost all the 7th graders so that helps a lot. And even when I'm in 8th, I know quite a few of them.

However, when it comes to 6th, I'm flying blind. What transpired was a throwback to when I was a substitute teacher and had to wing it.

The lesson was on stars, in particular, how they are formed. The "essential question" was a lot of blah blah blah I didn't even understand, let alone expect struggling readers to get. 

So I had them stand up a form a star with their arms and legs. We sang "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." Then we started through the slideshow lessons.

We managed to figure out a few things (stars are made up of hydrogen and helium). I kept reminding the kids that I didn't know this stuff, and was learning with them.

And then there was a video.

The first time through on the video was blah blah blah. Something about a H-R Diagram. (Never heard of this in my life. I still don't exactly know what it is.)

The second time through I heard something I could relate to. It had to do with protostars (never heard of them.) But what the voice on the video told us was that protostars are what stars are before they actually form. If a protostar is too cool, it won't form. If it is too hot, it is too unstable to form. It has to be the perfect temperature.

Walla! We know how to connect this to something we know...GOLDILOCKS.

We discussed this and everyone chose what color star they were. With about 8 minutes left, I turned them over to coloring pages. Two sweet girls--Waverly and Leena -- gave me their pages demanding I hang them in my classroom.

You can bet I did.

I saw the science teacher yesterday, and I could see the look of "what happened?" on her face. I told her a brief version of this story and she was laughing her ass off. 

Honestly, it was a good time. And it was a beautiful reminder of a number of things:

1. I still have what it takes.

2. Being silly can help in times of unknowing.

3. Learning together is what we are always doing.

4. Spontaneity is a weird and wonderful thing.