In the beginning of the year, I had the amazing opportunity to work with Partners in Sex Education to teach a class at a Greater Boston high school.
I had the option of teaching to a class of 9th graders or to upperclassmen, and being that I've had a lot of experience in working with middle school students in my previous day job I chose to go with the youngest group.
While I was extremely excited for this opportunity, was extremely nervous in the beginning. It had been many months since I had done work with kids. Would I do well in the class? What if they have attitude? Will I be able to reach them?
Sure, I had a lot of experience in working with youth. Sure, I had a lot of experience in speaking about sex and sexual health. But I had never combined the two worlds before.
Once I got started, though, I have to say I'm extremely proud of myself for having done a weeks worth of education with those students.
What I felt so naive about, however, was the fact that kids will find a way to get information, even if that information is incorrect. Throughout the week, I had to repeat several times that porn was not only for ADULT pleasure, but it is also the worst place to seek correct information.
Most of the class consisted of boys, with about 5 girls among them. It was clear that some of the terminology they were using when they asked anonymous questions was generated from things they saw or heard in porn. For example, "cumshot" is definitely not something used in every day language.
I felt silly for being a bit shocked, especially considering that even I looked at porns when I was younger to get information! And with the availability of information that is more prevalent these days, I really shouldn't have been as shocked as I was.
Nonetheless, I had a great time working with that class. They had a lot of great questions, and were engaged. I wish I could have had a month with them!! There's so much to cover and so little time to do it - much like how parties are.
My only hope is that they were able to retain some of the information, and that they seek help with trusted adults if need be.
I had the option of teaching to a class of 9th graders or to upperclassmen, and being that I've had a lot of experience in working with middle school students in my previous day job I chose to go with the youngest group.
While I was extremely excited for this opportunity, was extremely nervous in the beginning. It had been many months since I had done work with kids. Would I do well in the class? What if they have attitude? Will I be able to reach them?
Sure, I had a lot of experience in working with youth. Sure, I had a lot of experience in speaking about sex and sexual health. But I had never combined the two worlds before.
Once I got started, though, I have to say I'm extremely proud of myself for having done a weeks worth of education with those students.
What I felt so naive about, however, was the fact that kids will find a way to get information, even if that information is incorrect. Throughout the week, I had to repeat several times that porn was not only for ADULT pleasure, but it is also the worst place to seek correct information.
Most of the class consisted of boys, with about 5 girls among them. It was clear that some of the terminology they were using when they asked anonymous questions was generated from things they saw or heard in porn. For example, "cumshot" is definitely not something used in every day language.
I felt silly for being a bit shocked, especially considering that even I looked at porns when I was younger to get information! And with the availability of information that is more prevalent these days, I really shouldn't have been as shocked as I was.
Nonetheless, I had a great time working with that class. They had a lot of great questions, and were engaged. I wish I could have had a month with them!! There's so much to cover and so little time to do it - much like how parties are.
My only hope is that they were able to retain some of the information, and that they seek help with trusted adults if need be.
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