Public Performances & Private Parts

This past week was our school's spring concert and the final high school performance of a treasured former student from our school.

Our school's music teacher was understandably a bit worried about organizing a concert six weeks after her return to work from her injury, for May 28. I helped out as much as I can, without trying to step on toes or take over. I had two acts in the show. My primary choir and ukulele club did a great job. 

Thursday, May 29 was one of the performances of "Clue" at Earl Haig Secondary School by the students in the Claude Watson Program for the Performing Arts. Tyler was fantastic. I saw him in his Grade 9 show; he was amazing then and he was marvelous now. 

These are some of my thoughts, post-concert, and post-play.

• People aren't used to live shows anymore, or how to behave. At my school, I could actually see and hear adults talking while the students were performing on stage. I was aching to reprimand them, but my focus had to be on conducting. 
• It takes so much time, effort, and energy to put on a show. What we witness at the end, in front of the audience, is just the tip of the iceberg. Hours and hours of rehearsals, practices, and planning goes into productions like this. Tyler's play was completely run by the Grade 12 graduating drama class. This included costuming, lighting, and stage direction, among other things.
• Everyone has a different approach to the performing arts, and it takes skill and diplomacy to find the perfect balance of suggesting changes that will improve an act without veering into shaping the performance into the version you personally envision would be best. I found it fascinating that Tyler was only Mr. Green at the Thursday performance. There was another student portraying the same character in the show on Friday. I'd find it nearly impossible to imagine someone else in the role because Tyler possessed it so thoroughly. 
• Family support means so much, and not just "at the finish line". It was so heartwarming to see so many people come out to see Tyler's last high school show. His arms were filled with bouquets of flowers to celebrate his accomplishments. Congratulations again Tyler, and all the students who took part in both the production of "Clue" and our school's show!

I called this post "Public Performances and Private Parts" because I wanted to make sure I talked about the other aspect of teaching that has taken priority for the past few weeks. As part of my collaborative teaching time, I've been working with four different classes to provide grade-specific health lessons on the "Human Development and Sexual Health" unit. I teach the Grade 3s and their focus is on healthy relationships, positive body image, and factors that affect physical and social-emotional development. For the Grade 5s, we are working on parts of the reproductive system, puberty, menstruation and spermatogenesis. I've talked about teaching this before on my blog. Now that I've done it a few times, I definitely feel more comfortable leading these lessons. In addition to the useful and accurate OPHEA lesson plans, and the giant sperm and egg toys (renamed Willie and Wanda by this year's students), I also used a book called "Where Willy Went".

This is actually an old book, published in 2004. It shows its age in some ways and is decidedly innocent in some ways. Some students, after having the book read to them, were unclear on how Willy actually got to the egg. (The process of sexual intercourse is obscured in the picture book and just described as "joined together".) It has a few hidden biases/presumptions that have been disproven by recent science. For instance, Willy has a name but the egg in the book doesn't. Willy has an active role and the egg has a passive one. However, (and I apologize that I cannot find the scientific study that references this), the egg doesn't just sit there and allows the first sperm that arrives to merge. The egg can secrete substances that encourages or discourages penetration by certain sperm. 

Another example of how media portrayals or methods to try to instruct students on this potentially-awkward topic can lead to some inaccuracies involves the internal female reproductive system. The OPHEA lesson plan has a diagram to label that looks like most diagrams on the subject. I drew a version of it on the board so the students could see and copy more easily. (I added the illustration of the sperm going in and the menses going out.)

In the interest of making things easier to label, these diagrams suggest that the organs are spread out. (One Grade 5 boy said, "It looks like a praying mantis.") In reality, all of these parts are packed pretty closely together. A similar issue can be had with diagrams of the male reproductive system, which are often shown in a side view, blocking the fact that there are two testicles. If we rely on just these diagrams without explanation, there is the chance that students may not realize certain realities. We definitely want to stick to diagrams rather than other means of visualization, but it's important to be aware of their shortcomings. 

In addition to using Willy and Wanda, I've also used, based on suggestions from the OPHEA lessons, a question box where students can write their questions that they may be too shy to ask. It also buys me time to find a way to answer them in the most sensitive and accurate way. Their questions help me understand that parts of the lessons they are having trouble grasping. For instance, these are some of the questions from my most recent check of the question box.

• When you have a baby, does the baby come from the vaginal opening?
• Why do girls have an organ just for baby? Is it called the placenta?
• Why do periods start?
• What happens if you don't feed the baby?
• How do people get pregnant?
• What are fallopian tubes?
• How do twins happen?
• What's the other egg for in a woman's body?
• When are we going to learn [about] boobs?
• Is the outer part boobs?
• Why do pregnant women have cravings?
• How is the sperm made?
• What happens when you have sex and pee? / What happens if the man pees doing sex?

I worry that we aren't going to have enough time to address all these questions AND ensure that I generate some evaluations so that the teachers will have marks to put on the report cards. (The designated day devoted to report card writing is this coming Friday, June 6.) 

My other concern is for the students that get permission to abstain from these lessons. Often, the objections are religious in nature. I respect families but I wonder when or where or how these students will receive this information, and why it is that this particular unit can be exempted but not other units in other subject areas. I hope that all students will get the information they need in a timely and age-appropriate manner.