Thursday, October 10, 2013

What's a "tease"?

Today, we were reading some Greek mythology in first hour. In one adaptation of the Cyclopes story, he falls in love with a sea nymph who is, for lack of a better word, a tease.

When trying to describe this concept to my 9th graders, I took a pair of scissors and asked one if she wanted them. As she began reaching to take them from me I said, "Just kidding!" and snatched them away. Everyone laughed.

I did the exact same thing to another student who had been talking a lot all class period. He reached for the scissors and when I snatched them away, he finally understood the concept of not getting something you wanted.

I tried describing that when girls do this, in America we call them a "tease." I said some girls go around saying, "Hi boys, you're very cute." and they flirt with boys but then they say, "You can't have me!"

They got a kick out of it.

For the rest of the class, they would throw "Just kidding," at the end of just about every sentence.

When I assigned homework, one looked at me and asked, "Just kidding?"

At the end of the class period, I stood in the doorway saying goodbye as they left. One student looked at me and said, "Have a good day, Ms. Seeds! Just kidding!"

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