As some of you know, recently I purchased two rats to keep as pets. After discussing it with Mrs. Miller a little bit, I decided that I was going to teach a single lesson on rats for my Small Animal Science class.
On Friday my chance came. I needed an extra lesson to fill in before we left for SLLC. I had all of my students circle around me in the center of the room and pulled the rat cage over for them to all see. I taught that lesson and my students were all pretty interested in the topic. I showed them the food for my rats, explained to them about Mycoplasma in rats, explained why you should never pick a rat up by its tail.
The students seemed to have generally enjoyed the lesson.
Rats are a pet that not many people want to think about often (I think its the tail) but because of this lesson, I think my students will be more open to the options they have when looking for pets.
This lesson showed me that when I have something that I am really passionate about, when I teach about it a little bit of my passion can spill over to my students even if its only getting them to laugh at a rat instead of being scared.
