Often I sit and think over what to write and how to start...and end up with NOTHING !!!!!
thanks to Meena, who suggested 'us' to start writing about whatever we are teaching in our classrooms....
but then most of you wouldn't really bother reading what you' already know, would you?. So I thought of giving it a twist....presenting you the topic from what I think would be your point of view... essentially, talking about the questions you wanted to ask as I taught these things( but never did...phew!! ).
Recently, I dealt with "human reproduction" in class X and all the while i was thinking about what my best friend said once ...."blessed are amoeba and hydra, whose reproduction is easily acceptable to kids BUT we humans ...hmmm.....hush...hush...." I could feel giggling, some hesitant eyes and blushed faces in the class.....
In my first class, I usually talk about how my students feel about each other, their crazes, their fights, their styles (luv's new hairstyle :) ) and honestly i enjoyed my class with X A .
In subsequent classes, we talked about changes that occur in our bodies during puberty (and how we feel about it.....pimples deserve special mention here ;) ). Let me summarize those for you at this point -
Secondary sex characters are those characters peculiar to the male or female that develop at puberty, e.g., the beard of men and the breasts of women. Basically, any of the physical traits in a sexually mature animal that are specific to one sex but are not directly involved in the act of reproducing are secondary sex characteristics. These are thought to have evolved to give an individual an advantage in mating by making the individual more attractive to mates(as I talked about protruding lips of chimpanzees) or by allowing the individual to defeat rivals in competition for mates (male dominance). The appearance of secondary sex characteristics is determined by the sex hormones.
The most noticeable characters are
- Growth of facial hair in male including beard and mustaches
- Growth of armpit hair (called axillary hair)
- Growth of pubic hair
- the growth of the testicles in males.
- As the male sex organs grow in size, the larynx (voice box or "Adam's apple") also enlarges. As a result, men generally have a deeper voice than women.
- Development of breasts in females
- The first menstruation (also known as menarche) indicates approaching sexual maturity in females
We will continue with the rest of the topic in my following posts.....
Keep asking questions...
see you all tomorrow in the class !!
Babita
