Who cares about bones?

Not me.  But I need to because it's my job to teach 400 8th graders to care about and name most of the bones in the human skeleton

After my most miserable day ever proctoring tests for the 9a kids, I was super glad to get back into my own turmas where the kids at least sometimes pretend to listen to me.

The 8th graders are super easy to entertain.  For example, I found a land-snail (about the size of a baseball) on my way to class.  I picked it up and dropped it into the pocket of my bata.  When I got to class and got the kids calmed and seated (in my 8a classes this takes only about 2 minutes...) I pulled the snail out of my pocket.  Pandemonium.  The kids had never seen anything as funny as a professor taking a snail out of a bata.  

I admit it, I do really cheesy, shameless things to convince them to learn.  Besides producing stickers and snails and other magical things from my bata, I sometimes have to resort to charades to get their attention.  Sometimes I play hangman with them or try to bribe them with dancing (ie:  If you all turn in your homework, I will do the macarena for you) but above all they're probably endlessly amused by creative usage of Portuguese.

I really really wish I could have someone translate real time what I say to these kids.  I think it goes something like this:

"We care about bones, why?  I can dance without bones?  I can walk without bones?  Small humans, babies, can walk?  No.  Babies can't walk.  Because their bones are not hard.  Their bones are made of cartilage. Touch your ears.  Your ears are cartilage.  Cartilage turns to bone.  That's why babies learn to walk"

Ok...soo.... If anyone is paying attention, that's KIND of true.  Close enough.  Except now I've probably, maybe, convinced 400 kids that their ears will eventually turn to bone.