There is a point in every childhood that you hear an adult, probably your mom, try to sound cool. I think these same adults write text books. I think these same adults become teachers. I think I may become this type of teacher if I'm not continually considering student interests in lessons.
We were talking about artificial selection in class. The examples on the PowerPoint and in the book are simple: cats, dogs, milk cows. I dutifully added these text-book approved examples in my lesson, but in the last class of the day I mentioned that I grow Ghost Peppers, a type of pepper derived from artificial selection. This got a rather hot (pardon the pun) reaction.
We talked about how the peppers are bred and cross-bred, isolating the part of the pepper that we want--heat! Cross-breeding, then, got the students talking about funny-sounding dog breeds. During the conversation, I was able to point out how each one of these things is tied to an overarching concept we've been talking about during the lectures. Ah, the joy of seeing light bulbs go on! And, for a few minutes, we enjoyed the connection between content and student interests, even if it got a bit silly.
I walked away from this lesson resolved to make sure this happens a lot more than I had anticipated. If I don't, I'll turn into a square. Yo.
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