I Quit

I quit this week for about 40 minutes.  My juniors had their second to last class on Tuesday, so I decided to do something extra special--I gave them authority.  I told them bluntly that I was now a student and that they needed to elect new teachers from their number.  It made sense; Of all my classes they were the ones most likely to actually be brave and rise to the challenge (or volunteer their classmates, which is usually what happens).  After a few awkward minutes there were two volunteers.

Now just because I let them be teachers did not mean I trusted them entirely.  Left to their own devices, who knows what could have happened (if given little more time, I would have tried that approach too.)  So, I did give them a sheet listing a few requirements.  They had to do a debate and a game, but they could choose which ones.

We managed to have two debates, which went pretty well.  First up was the age-old dispute of "love vs. money--which one is the most important?"  When it comes to romance, my students are always idealistic, so at first only one person favored money and I had to jump in to even the odds.   Some of my more reticent students even got involved and I saw passion that I had not seen before.  

I forget what the second one was.  I think it was "sex before marriage" or something.  By then I was too busy trying to be as naughty as possible, hoping to provoke some disciplinary action from the substitute teachers (and partly out of revenge--though this class was my best-behaved).  This involved texting, mock-hitting on my female classmates, and of course, speaking Chinese.

All in all I would say it was a success, even if a bit disorganized.  I had fun.

Leb Wohl