My Mother's Daughter

Colors slosh in white bowls: red, yellow, blue, green, purple, teal. A circle of white spins in a pool of purple; too fast, the waters lurch to one side and--oh! there it goes, over the shallow edge.

"Does anyone have a mop?"

Another casualty of adventuresome teaching.

In many ways, I'm like my dad: we both love coffee and almonds, we both value our down time, we both play the bass guitar, we think similarly about problems. But when it comes to teaching style, I am completely and totally, 100% my mother's daughter.

See, my mom's philosophy is that teaching should be fun, things will come together when they need to, and messes along the way are not only expected, but perfectly okay. As an example, earlier this year, my mom let every kid in her 4th grade class make their own apple pie; she's currently planning a unit on the Oregon Trail that features desk wagons that teams of kids will pilot through obstacles like a river crossing and food shortages. It's an absolutely stupendous way to teach, and it has resulted in, not just a great education for myself, my brothers, but for the hundreds of other kids she's taught over the years. And now, through me, her teaching legacy has reached a whole new group of kids here in Taiwan.

So what did I do today? I dyed eggs. With 5 groups of 30 5th graders. In the school multimedia room. For Easter.

Because, really, what could go wrong with giving a bunch of 10-year-olds bowls of colorful dye?

And, a few dozen spills, paper changes and calls for clean-up crews later, I can tell you the answer: actually, not that much! As my mom can attest, problems can be fixed when they need to be; new rules can be implemented at the last second, new papers can be found to cover the desks, broken eggs can still be dyed, worksheets can be handed out as needed for fast finishers or those who forgot to bring an egg.

And the kids loved it! I truly wish I could teach every lesson like this, full of fun and controlled in name only--though the school administrators might grow to hate me. But the kids wouldn't!

At the start: so clean! Though this was our third complete set-up of the day...

Some of the girls added adorable crayon designs!

And faces. ^_^

Of course, the boys got pretty creative, too--I wish you could see his whole egg! He drew rainbow stripes in crayon, then died the whole thing blue. Gorgeous!

Of course, we had a few casualties...(and undercooked eggs)..

...and a few premature snacks.

Hers was easily one of my favorites: yellow flowers on blue, and red flowers on purple. So pretty!

Cheesy grin! Proof that even the kids without eggs could decorate eggs. :)

...and eggs don't have to be perfect to be dyed...gaping hole? No problem!

Messes aside, it was a fabulous and fun teaching day. And yes--I will be doing it again tomorrow. So look out, multimedia room floor and countertops!