Day 443 Project Week- for my Psyc nerds!

I know, I know, I know....

This post takes me back to November.  To say I am a wee bit behind in blogging is a HUGE understatement.  It is now in the final days of the first semester (at LONG last) and I am behind in everything....behind in getting groceries (mac n' cheese again tonight), behind in doing laundry (does this shirt pass the sniff test?), behind in charging up my utilities (I check my gas and electricity meters daily, but I can't get to the bank to recharge the cards), behind in personal grooming (shaving your legs really isn't necessary in the winter, right?) behind in grading (don't even get me started there), well crap.....I am just seriously behind.  

I am zeroing in on "the eleventh hour", when all lesson plans and grades must be submitted, the apartment cleaned and 'shut down' for a month, and my suitcases are packed for home.  I leave 10 days from now, on January 23rd, and the thought of that nearly causes me to have a panic attack.  So what do I do???

Procrastinate a little longer, by taking a time out from grading to post a blog that has been in the can for two months.  (To my credit, I graded 3 classes of final exams today, and only two piles of finals are left on my desk)  So there. Suck it.

This is my first year to teach my "Chinese babies".  They are my Grade 10's, affectionately known as PAL kids, or Pre- Alevel diploma program.  Boy are they ever my Chinese babies!  I heart them all over.  They are so wide-eyed and full of wonder to the world.  Their English is VERY broken, but they try so very, very hard to please me and make good grades.  They are like three year-olds in adolescent bodies, and they are adorable.  Unlike a three year old, the good news is not one of my students has laid on the floor and thrown a temper tantrum, not even once, this whole semester. Besides, that would be very un-Chinese of them.  

Unless, of course, they really were a 3 year old Chinese kid, and boy do they ever have a set of lungs! I should know, my neighbor next door has a three year old boy I have affectionately named "Prince". "Prince" damn near gets his way each and every day, multiple times a day, if he screams and cries and throws a fit loud enough.  It's all I can do to refrain myself from giving the neighbors a lesson on operant conditioning.  Except, there's the part where I don't speak Mandarin. Those adults over there reward his god-awful behavior by giving in to him all. the. damn. time.  It happens when there's only one child, and four adults are catering to him. It happens. alot. in the China.  But I digress.....

So, in November it was "Project Week" for the Grade 10's.  Since I do not teach English/Math/Science, I am usually exempt from participating.  Project Week for the Grade 11 and 12's is code for "We can't go to class for a week leading up to taking the SATs on Saturday."  It happens twice a year.  For Grade 10's, they actually do Projects, and suspend all regular classroom instruction.  It could be a cool idea, and an opportunity for some in depth study on a particularly interesting topic, but it generally ends up being some contrived thrown-together-at-the-last-minute B.S.-group-project that involves a fashion show, power point exhibit, presentations, voting and awards.  

Have I said how much I hate group projects?!  I did as a student...I do as a teacher.

I shouldn't sound so sour, other than I really would rather have the instructional time with my kiddos- especially my Grade 10s.  I have to take it SLOW with them, as I find myself using so many words they do not know, I have to stop for a vocabulary lesson just to get through the first point of my lecture.  If I'm jacked up on a cafe mocha with double shots, it is doubly difficult to slow myself down.

The kids were required to do two projects from their choice of core subjects, and one additional project if they chose in another class- or take remediation in a core course they were falling behind. These kids are in school 14 hours a day, who wants 'extra lessons'???  I was shocked, then pleasantly surprised to discover that all of my PAL kids wanted to do a 'Psychology Project'.  That meant I had to come up with something REAL QUICK LIKE.

For the previous several weeks, I introduced my Chinese babies to psychoanalytic psychology and the 'virtues and vices' of Sigmund Freud.  They loved it.  Especially the sex talk, because Ms. McDaniel doesn't pull any punches, and she loves to make her Chinese babies giggle and blush. They learned about the three structures of personality; the id, ego, and superego.  They learned about the five stages of personality development (psychosexual development); oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital stages.  They learned about ego defense mechanisms- there are 12 in all- repression being the foundation to his psychoanalytic theory. They learned about projective tests, like the Rorshach Inkblot Test, the Thematic Apperception Test, and the Rotter's Sentence Completion Test.  We had a ball making our own inkblots, creating stories for the TAT, and analyzing our own dreams.  In a word, we had FUN, y'all.  

Our study of Freud wrapped up with one of his most famous case studies, the story of Little Hans which was originally published in 1909. It was a greatly flawed study, following the psychosexual development of a boy, Little Hans, who was between the ages of 3 -5. He was in the midst of the phallic stage, and Freud affectionately referred to him as a "Little Oedipus". If you are interested, follow this link for more: The Case of Hans, a Phobic 5 year old boy  Though the case study was quite unscientific since it was built upon the notes and stories told by Hans' father (who was a great supporter of Freud), it was still considered an important piece of case study research which provided anecdotal evidence for the phallic stage of development, which Freud believed was most critical.  The long and the short of it was that Little Hans had a fascination with his "widdler" (what four year old boy doesn't love touching his penis?!) and he seemed to be extraordinarily 'attached' to his mother, viewing his father as a rival for momma's affections.  The fear of his father was expressed in Little Hans' phobia of horses, so the interpretation went. All of this story telling had my kids in fits of giggles for a week.

THEY LOVED IT.

So much so, they wanted to do a project on Freud for "Project Week" to present to all of the Grade 10's on what cool and interesting things they were learning in Psychology.  I gave them free reign. 

Their projects were incredible, and one group placed 2nd of ALL projects presented- so take THAT, Science, Math, Engineering/Technology, and English!!!

These girls bravely retold the Little Hans story, down to Hans'
mother threatening to "call the Dr. to come cut off his
widdler" if he did not stop touching it.  I was rolling and
dying inside as I watched the expressions of other teachers
and students trying to grasp, "WHAT did she just say???"
Their cute illustrations clearly told the whole story.
It was a proud moment for this psychology teacher :)))

These girls tackled "Dream Interpretation", explaining
'manifest content' and 'latent content' to their audience.

These girls eloquently described Little Hans "giraffe dream"
which Freud saw as evidence of the phallic stage that he
was sexually attracted to his mother. Little Hans only wanted to
'get with his momma' in the parent's bed with 'the big giraffe'
 (daddy) gone from the bedroom.
Say WHAT???  Watching the other student's and
teacher's faces was priceless.  And freakin' hilarious!

This group performed a skit acting out the
twelve defense mechanisms.  Here we have
'regression' to id impulses in the face of stress
or anxiety.  Just like my "Prince" next door.

I didn't get photos of them all, but these
Chinese babies did their teacher proud with
their knowledge of Freud and psychology
during Project Week.

And the realllllyyyy good news is I didn't get called in to the principal's office :))))

G'nite, y'all!