speaking of sex in the classroom

so, my english 4 classes were small today, due to the jackson trip. the activity that i'd planned went really well during second period, but fourth period got slightly... distracted. right. so, here's the deal. i answered one question about sex ("as long as you know, you 'go' first and he 'goes' later, you can't get pregnant, right? you have to go at the same time to get pregnant, right?"), and that was like opening the flood gates. did i actually teach english today? um... no. did the students learn information that could directly impact their lives? um... YES.

good things my students learned today:
- YES, you can still get pregnant/get a girl pregnant, if you have unprotected sex (even if ejaculation happens outside the body). it's called pre-cum, jokers. ALL of the football guys freaked out with this one, and several of the girls decided to pass that information on to their boyfriends.
- YES, you can have AIDS (or be carrying HIV) even if you look "clean"
- NO, you probably won't get HIV from the cafeteria lady spitting on your food. goofy children. fluid to fluid contact.

all in all, a VERY controversial class. not planned, not my job to teach, BUT since it's not being taught (or talked about) in health or biology class, i'm going to take those teachable moments and run with them. scary though. the students made a pact not to spread rumors about each other or talk about each other with the information given in the room. interesting, how much trust they place in themselves. it makes me feel good that fourth period, at least, feels that kind of safety within these walls.

good thing the TFA observer didn't show.