Friday, February 26, 2010

.self-esteem boost.

Sometimes being a guest speaker is really great for my self-esteem.

At the end our our presentations, we pass around evaluations for the students to fill out (and separate ones for the teachers). It's a way for us to see what the kids are learning/picking up and how effective we're being.

Yesterday a student in gr. 7 learned that he should "not try to be someone else." What a great lesson for him to have learned!

There's also a spot on the paper where they are asked "would you recommend this presenter" and can circle yes or no. This week in responses I not only got almost all yes's (3 boys said no, which isn't a bad ratio out of 220 students), I got a bit extra from some students. One student circled yes, then drew an arrow and wrote "totally!" and circled it. Another student circled "yes" and wrote "x10!" and another guy said "yes x2." A bunch of people circled "yes" multiple times. One girl put stars next to her very circled "yes" and wrote "so great!" Another heavily circled yes had a note underneath saying "She's awesome! (and pretty)"

Also, one student told me that I gave the BEST sex ed talk ever! I'll take that!

I haven't recently had any students tell me I deserve a raise, but those comments always make me smile.

It's great that there's always a silver lining that can be found in the midst of a really crazy week.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

.stories from a sex ed presenter.

As a guest speaker for human sexuality, I often have amusing things happen in my classrooms. Here are a few recent anecdotes. (I need to start writing them down more often, because I tend to forget them because I'm just so used to random comments and funny things happening.)

The other day as he was leaving the room, a boy in grade 7 commented, "You make learning about sex fun!" which I took as a great compliment.

I had a girl ask me, in all seriousness, "Can you get pregnant by swimming in a pool?" I assured her that although sperm are good swimmers, they're not that good. They don't have radar that helps them find vaginas.

While discussing reproduction, a student asked me how the X-men got their powers.

When I talk about condoms, I mention that although they reduce risk of pregnancy and STIs, they're not perfect. Especially because some STIs are transferred by skin to skin contact, and condoms aren't a fully body wet suit. After saying this one time, I had a high school boy say, "Well, what if I wrapped myself up in seran wrap?" I looked at him and said, "Do you really think some girl is gonna wanna get with you when you're covered in seran wrap?" and he thought about it for a second and said, "You're right. How about tin foil?"