My Forehead as Ad Space

If I had to sum up what I do in BEd most days, it would probably come down to the following words: group work and presentations. That's about half of it and ironically, it's the half I hated with every fibre of my being when I was in lower school. Now, almost every class involves some kind of group activity. As a result, nearly every class requires some kind of presentation. I think the idea behind it all is to stomp out any potential fears of people, or, more specifically, being up in front of people. Immersion therapy, it  works.

In my teachable subjects (English and history) we've been doing teaching strategy presentations.The ones in history have generally been more fun. And that's where my funny moment of the day is coming from! Shocker!

I was sitting in the back corner of the classroom with Guy Alex and my friend A. Her name isn't Alex. In any case, it was A's turn to present her teaching strategy. I have to admit that I'm jealous of the awesomeness of her strategy. Talk about setting the bar high. What did she present on? Headbands.

I refuse to spell it "Hedbanz"

I think it's probably self explanatory, but in Headbands, the players wear headbands and are outfitted with a card depicting something. It can be a person, a place, a thing. Each person then has to guess which card they're displaying on their forehead by asking questions. In A's case, she modified the game to be about WW2. For instance, Guy Alex was Anne Frank, a POW, a flamethrower. I wound up being Stalin, Japan, an atomic bomb. It's actually brilliant as a class activity. It's easily adaptable to any number of subjects, it requires students to know their material, it's an awesome review activity and it's so fun you forget you're studying. I realize that what I've described is not yet funny. I'm getting there.

So, A outfits me with a new card. Guy Alex instantly proclaims it to be difficult. Meanwhile, he has POWs on his head. I got to start asking the questions. I asked if I was a person. I was not. Guy Alex asked the same question. I think you know what the answer was. I don't know how many questions we'd asked before we decided the activity was too cool for our prof to miss out on. Guy Alex shouted out: "Hey Todd, you need to come see this!" drawing everyone's attention. Our professor looked over from across the room and did a double take when he saw me. Keep in mind I probably looked like the kid on the right. When I returned my attention to our table, I noticed that the group across the way were also regarding me with smirks and curious looks. At that point, I really wanted to know what the hell was on my head. Our prof sat down and watched us play. He looked very amused. He started helping Guy Alex which was totally not fair but I'm not a vindictive person so we'll leave it at that. The guessing continued as did the looks.

I was finally able to discover that I definitely served a military purpose. I wasn't a person or a place. I sort of kind of was part of military dress. After a while, I asked if I was the star patch. They looked at me like I was getting close. That's when I knew what was on my head and I could only laugh. What else could I do?

For a good ten minutes I was sporting a swastika on my forehead (fortunately not Charles Manson style). Normally, I wouldn't find that funny in the least. The only reason I found it funny was because I was completely oblivious. Think about it. Does anyone wear a swastika innocently? There I was, sitting, getting all excited at my progress in the game and meanwhile, I have one of the worlds most recognized hate symbols prominently on display. On my head. On highlighter coloured paper. For my whole class to see. My class who has no idea what we're doing at my table. Is there such a thing as a Catholic, lesbian Neo Nazi who finds the likes of Lea Michele ridiculously attractive? I think I broke three rules in that one sentence. Guess I'll never be a Nazi... oh darn... What will my classmates think!? Just to be clear, I am not a Nazi, I do not support Nazis, I think they belong to a terrible chapter in history and their continued existence baffles me.

Anyway, never thought I would wear that. So, today's lesson: never say never. Because let me tell you, sometimes, things sneak up on you and happen in innocent, unexpected ways. Let me think... what else did I say I would never do...

Lauren.