Show and Tell, Tuesday, Period Two

[myownface]

This week, Sparkle had told his class to meet him on the causeway. It was a small class, he felt fairly confident that he could take them on a field trip without losing too many of them. He was grinning all the while, too.

"Okay, so this week, we aren't going to be bringing what we're showing off to the classroom," he shared, "I mean, obviously. This week, we're going to go to what we're going to be showing off. We're heading to the zoo. If you have a favourite animal, this is going to be an easy one for you. If you don't have a favourite or the animal you like most isn't from Earth, then you can explore the zoo and see if anything catches your interest. I'm gonna give us all like half an hour to look around. You can wander off alone or in groups if you want to," he waved them through the portal and they stepped out into the zoo next to the ice cream stands. "Then we meet back here, and each take turns leading the rest of the class off to find our favourite animals and to talk about them a little bit."

He paused, and then added, "But first, we're getting ice cream. My treat."

It wasn't exactly like buying four ice cream cones was going to break the bank or take much time, anyway.

Library, Tuesday

[spell_chucker]

Khadgar's shift started off quietly enough, but after a while he noticed a rustling sound coming from one of the non-fiction sections. He was tempted to just leave whatever was happening alone, but his curiosity got the better of him and when he went to investigate, he found all the books on trees getting a hug from the other books around them.

Khadgar tried to back up without being noticed, but he wasn't fast enough, and one of the books toddled over to his leg and bumped up against his ankle. "Do you, er, still need a hug?" he asked. The book bounced up and down, so Khadgar picked it up and gave it a gentle, uncertain squeeze. The pages fluttered against him and the book, seemingly satisfied, pushed away from him to go back to the shelves.

"No one would ever believe me," he muttered as he headed back to the front of the library.

[Open and OCD-free!]

Try Not to Die, Tuesday, May 16, 2017

[sith_happened]

"There are seven different large land masses on this planet called 'continents'," Anakin explained, pointing to the handy map from last week as the class assembled. "Last week we visited a country in South America. This week we are going to an island nation off the coast of North America, which is where we are located. We might visit it again through the school as part of a spring or fall break vacation--Jamaica is rather famous for its beaches."

And rum. But Anakin was Being An Adult right now and wouldn't mention that to impressionable youth. "It's the same set up as last week--complete two assignments, come find me, try not to die." He glanced at Hyacinth. "Don't get too distracted by the local population."

Cough.

"Ready...go."

Resolving Conflict Without Violence, Wednesday First Period [Week 2]

[retired_hero]

Anne was standing at the front of the classroom again, waiting for her students.

"Welcome back," she said with a friendly smile. "I hope you all enjoyed your first week of classes." Her smile flashed impish for a moment. "And it's good to see you came back." She hadn't been sure how many people would want to keep up the class, given the subject matter.

"Last week, we considered personal history and the role of violent and non-violent conflict resolution in our own lives. The usual format for this class will involve debate around contentious topics, the sorts of things that often do lead to violence, in order to offer you all opportunities to practice non-violent resolution when it is at its most difficult: when you really, really want to hit something." Or someone.

She turned, writing on the board with big, bold letters. "Family vs Community," she said, underlining the words on the board. "This is something of a classic dichotomy in philosophical discussions, but that's because it hits so close to home for most people. It's easy to put yourself into a lot of these hypothetical situations."

"So, here's the situation I want you to consider. Wherever you live, a dangerous new disease appears. It kills nine out of ten of the people who contract it, and it's so contagious that no attempt to quarantine it has been successful. The only positive thing is that if you're one of the lucky few to survive it, you become immune to future infections. So far, everyone has just relied on the luck of it not reaching their community. For our purposes, imagine that you caught it yourself while traveling abroad, and have only recently returned home after being cleared by the doctors."

"So you know the symptoms really well. Well enough to recognize them when your favorite family member contracts the disease. Now, you know that the early symptoms are subtle enough that it's unlikely anyone else will realize what has happened for a while."

"So. What do you do? Do you try to keep things hidden, hoping that you'll get lucky and your family will survive like you did? Do you warn your friends and neighbors so that they can keep their distance, and reduce the risk themselves? What other options do you see?"

Anne looked around. "I want you to pair up with each other and tease out the details. While this is a hypothetical situation, and that robs it of some of its emotional punch, I want you to prod for details. Push each other on your contradictions, try to find the specifics of how far each of you is willing to go."

She considered the students around her. "If you just play it safe, refusing to immerse yourself in the situation, you won't get nearly as much out of this exercise as you will if you really get into it."

But, really, it was up to them.