School Presentation

[Tarantula Lover]

It went very well, my teachers and principle held my Aphonopelma moderatum (I also did) The class calmed down as i gave them some information about tarantulas, and not to treat them the way the media treats them, I went into another class and the girls were all screaming! That part was CRAZY!

The Highs:
Hopefully the students learned some information on these creatures, and there not out to get you. I think they learned information and were educated some more.

The Lows:
Some kids still treated them the same way, screaming, running out of the class, crying and so on. Some didnt want to even look at them, and were not paying any attention whatsoever.

Summary:
I think the students found it very facinating to see a real big tarantula, and one that is actually REAL, unlike the ones they see in movies. I think what I did will hopefully help out this hobby. Many of my friends want to learn more, and then purchase one of their own! All in all i think i made a difference!


James

 

[jwb121377]

Congratulations James it sounds like you did a good job. Were you nervous?

 

[rob]

Great...

All in all i think i made a difference!

Great job! Some people do get nervous speaking in front of others. I do it regularly as part of my job and it gets easier the more you do it.

 

[krystal]

glad to hear all went well. nicely done.

 

[RugbyDave]

Hey man!

Nice job! I do these presentations at temples, churches, schools and the like.

It's interesting to watch the kids, as some are truly fascinated! It's great to think that in 10 years you may be reading a post by some kid that says " SOME GUY CAME TO MY SCHOOL IN XXX CITY 10 YEARS AGO AND NOW I LOVE T'S", right?

it is hard to contend with children's (though untrue) beliefs on big hairy spiders. But hopefully the presentations we do can change that, or at least show them some proof that you're not going to die when you touch one.

It is also hard to contend with 10 boys and girls crying and screaming, while the other 20 are clammering to see the T.

Its also hard, since you don't want to go TOO indepth with anatomy and physiology (though some teachers want you to!), and you know they just want to see the Ts... but its fun!

I usually bring my P.regalis for them to handle. Haha right. Could you imagine that? ;P

I bring a couple different kinds of Ts. I bring the colourful, docile ones (avics and pzb), the not-as-colourful-yet-still-beautiful docile ones (B.albo, B.smithi, chaco...), the look-but-don't-touch (poec, H.gigas, Usumbara) and a whip-scorpion or two.

I never, EVER bring my roseas. I don't want them anywhere near human child-blood. They can sense that stuff, im sure of it

anyone else give these presentations?

and is anyone else blown away at how beautiful some 4th grade science teachers can be? Maybe its just my "naive youth", but hot damn! Makes doing the presentations all the more fun! (hey, at least I'm honest!)

peace
dave

 

[skinheaddave]

Good work, James.

Yeah, Dave, I've done some presentations. Actualy more with the reptiles, but I have done inverts before. As much as some kids can freak out, I am always much more concerned about the reactions of adults. Children have very open minds and they can unlearn what they have heard just as easily as they can learn. Adults, on the other hand, know for a FACT that their great uncle Jack's boss' neice's fiance was bitten by a tarantula fourty years ago and was never the same because they cause brain rot etc. etc. etc.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[Henry Kane]

Great job James! You are a valuable participant in this hobby. Keep it up.

Atrax

 

[RugbyDave]

I also notice that children are more apt to go vis-a-vis with the animal (touching/handling/etc) than adults are. The younger the child is, the less fear it has, i feel. I mean, the kid hasn't had time to create biases (yet)... though it would be interesting to do a study on how much (if any) actual 'scare-instincts' are left in humans. I know we watched a video last year in the lab where they had all these different babies touching all these different animals that the adults wouldn't even touch.

anyways
great job James!
peace
dave

 

[skadiwolf]

dude, i think that's fantastic. currently all the reptiles i keep are very docile in hopes that at some point i will also be able to do public presentations with them.

it's people like you who will encourage learning of inverts instead of ignorance and fear.

i salute you!

 

[Philth]

I'm going to a 7th grade class on Thursday. This is the first time im doing this so im nervous. My biggest fear is the first thing that i say to the class, how do i start it? My usual " Hey check out this Golith birdeater, its 10 freaking inches and eats small mice!" does not sound professional. Any tips?

 

[nemesis6sic6]

I have a tip

Tell them
Hi, this is my Goliath bird eater Tarantula.
I feed it nasty ugly mice that carry deceases
and in the wild they also eat this to keep the mouse population in check so we're not over run by little mice who will grow up and
eat our trash and carry ticks and carry deceases and pee every 7 seconds.
just a tought.
but mice and rats really do that
so children would think that T's are heroes

geo

 

[Tarantula Lover]

Thanks everyone for all the compliments. I wasnt nervous at all, i love talking in front of class, and participate all the time, so i guess i am my voice is pretty much known, i am not shy at all. Never will be
Thanks again!


James

 

[sunnymarcie]

James, I like stories like this.
I hope you got good marks for your project=D

Presenting in a classroom is fun.
I personally love to watch people run and scream. Thats
just the sick sense of humor I have LOL.~:0)

But having people that say "I want to get a T" is much better

 

[LPacker79]

My biggest fear is the first thing that i say to the class, how do i start it? My usual " Hey check out this Golith birdeater, its 10 freaking inches and eats small mice!" does not sound professional. Any tips?

I think if I were to do something like this, I would start out by asking the class to tell me what they know about tarantulas. That way you can dispell the myths right off.
I personally could never talk in front of a class. I carried a 3.6 GPA in school, but whenever I had to get in front of the class to speak, I would bomb terribly. I could turn a 10 minute speech into 2 minutes, I would get dizzy and I would sweat Niagara Falls. The very quiet, quivery voice was probably pretty hard to understand too.
I guess it's the shyness in me. If people don't talk to me, then there's about a 99.99999% chance that they wouldn't ever hear my voice. Of course, at home I'm a chatterbox.

 

[Bry]

Originally posted by LPacker79
I personally could never talk in front of a class. I carried a 3.6 GPA in school, but whenever I had to get in front of the class to speak, I would bomb terribly. I could turn a 10 minute speech into 2 minutes, I would get dizzy and I would sweat Niagara Falls. The very quiet, quivery voice was probably pretty hard to understand too.
I guess it's the shyness in me. If people don't talk to me, then there's about a 99.99999% chance that they wouldn't ever hear my voice. Of course, at home I'm a chatterbox.

Sounds strangely familiar.

Bry

 

[Philth]

whenever I had to get in front of the class to speak, I would bomb terribly. I could turn a 10 minute speech into 2 minutes, I would get dizzy and I would sweat Niagara Falls

lol, Thanks for the words of confidence. Im not to nervous now.