Patriotism in science class --Nina

I realized recently that most of my students are incredibly patriotic. There is nothing wrong with that, but sometimes this manifests itself in disconcerting scenarios. For example, my current science unit with the 6th graders is all about the earth. In the first lesson, we learned about different ancient theories about the earth (that it was carried on the backs of turtles, that it was flat, etc). After I had them draw some of the theories from different cultures, I asked what I thought was an innocent question: "Who thinks that the Indian theory is the most interesting?" As soon as I finished this sentence, Sam (the same guy who spilled milk on my computer) shouted vehemently: "Anyone who chooses anything besides the Chinese theory does not love our country!" Those who had raised their hands quickly put them down. Frightened, I then asked about who thought the Chinese theory was the best, and the vast majority of the class proudly raised their hands. When I asked about the ancient Greek theory, two girls timidly raised their hands, and I joined them in solidarity, also very timidly, feeling conspicuous for the first time this year as the only non-Chinese person in the room. Hopefully they'll maintain their current opinion that having a foreign teacher is a positive thing. (If not, I'll get our local police officer to come to my defense and argue that I'm Chinese.)

Here's a page from our English textbook that is along the same vein:

This dialogue would be perfectly normal, except that it has absolutely nothing to do with any of the other vocabulary words in the unit. But, I suppose it is "Good to know." Also, please note how confusing it is to follow this simple dialogue. Our textbooks are even hard for native English speakers to understand. 

In that same science unit, we did an activity involving using Play-Do to create our own models of the layers of the earth. That afternoon, Sadie, one of the quietest but sweetest girls in the class, knocked on my door and said in a barely audible voice, "Thank you teacher." When I asked her why, she said, completely earnestly, "For bringing us Play-Do to use in class." Then, after looking away shyly, she asked if she could borrow my bucket of Play-Do for an hour or so. I decided to trust her, since she's one of the most mature 6th graders. She brought it back precisely an hour later, with a pretty flower design she had created on the cover. She looked embarrassed as soon as I saw it, and she offered to deconstruct it for me. Of course I said no and took pictures of it instead.

Sadie! I wish I had a better picture.

Sadie's Play-Do creation

In addition to Play-Do flowers, I also got more real flowers this week! So pretty! I really need to start visiting students' at home so that I can see the yards where all of these flowers must come from.

Thank you Lisa and Xena!