Someone who doesn't know me might be forgiven for thinking that, as a member of the teaching profession, I am somehow morally righteous, prudish and humourless in the classroom. The rest of you will be under no such assumptions. The following video is a fairly typical exchange between students and eventually me - this week I introduced them to Rule 34.
Other than the information that this is my A2 Biology class, who were doing their final core practical ("Investigating Habituation to a Stimulus"), the students are anonymised. Members of the class who happen upon this video will instantly know who the students are, but I was sure not to film their faces, and no one refers to anyone by name, so their dignity (such as it is) is preserved. All the students in the video, whether in shot or in voice only, are over 18.
Which makes the way they are about to respond to the snail utterly hilarious.
Tomorrow I finish the A2 syllabus, and then it's past papers and practice questions until the exams begin. I really am going to miss this group - a few I have only taught for one academic year, but most of them have been my students for two years. A select handful were my first GCSE class nearly three years ago. In that regard it's the end of an era.
They have made me laugh and cry, sometimes in equal measure. They have frustrated and delighted. Their utter revulsion at the thought of doing fieldwork was one of my most challenging A2 moments, but the weeks we've spent on their coursework have been as strong a bonding experience all round as yomping around a field would have been. They have offers at a range of universities to study great things. As I do each year, I will be very tearful at the end of their Unit 5 exam, and the lab will feel a lot quieter for a while.
They are going to save the world, and it has been a privilege to teach them. Even if they are a load of big girls' blouses when it comes to poking a snail or two.
Other than the information that this is my A2 Biology class, who were doing their final core practical ("Investigating Habituation to a Stimulus"), the students are anonymised. Members of the class who happen upon this video will instantly know who the students are, but I was sure not to film their faces, and no one refers to anyone by name, so their dignity (such as it is) is preserved. All the students in the video, whether in shot or in voice only, are over 18.
Which makes the way they are about to respond to the snail utterly hilarious.
Tomorrow I finish the A2 syllabus, and then it's past papers and practice questions until the exams begin. I really am going to miss this group - a few I have only taught for one academic year, but most of them have been my students for two years. A select handful were my first GCSE class nearly three years ago. In that regard it's the end of an era.
They have made me laugh and cry, sometimes in equal measure. They have frustrated and delighted. Their utter revulsion at the thought of doing fieldwork was one of my most challenging A2 moments, but the weeks we've spent on their coursework have been as strong a bonding experience all round as yomping around a field would have been. They have offers at a range of universities to study great things. As I do each year, I will be very tearful at the end of their Unit 5 exam, and the lab will feel a lot quieter for a while.
They are going to save the world, and it has been a privilege to teach them. Even if they are a load of big girls' blouses when it comes to poking a snail or two.
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