I read a story to my sixth graders today that was called "Rabies" which details the misadventures of sixth grader Jack Henry, an autobiographical character created by Jack Gantos. Like most of Gantos's writing, it is funny in a realistic and self-deprecating way. Jack Gantos was in sixth grade around 1962, though, and it takes a little background knowledge building to help kids relate to his story nearly 60 years after it took place.
We have to start with rabies itself; many students do not know what it is. This year, when I told them it was caused by a virus, I figured we'd have a little less ground to cover, considering we have been living in a pandemic caused by a virus for the last 18 months. "But rabies is not airborne like COVID," I assured them.
"COVID is in the air?" asked a student in alarm.
"IT can be," I said. "That's why we wear masks."
"I already had it," another student reported, and her comment started a chain reaction. It turned out that over a third of the class had already had a positive case of the virus. Thankfully, the symptoms they reported sounded short-term and very mild, more like a reaction to the vaccine than anything else.
"That's why I don't really care about my mask," one boy admitted candidly. It was true that I often had to remind him to cover his nose.
"But your mask is more to block any virus you might have from getting out," I explained. "My mask protects you, in case I have COVID, and yours protects me. We know now that it is possible to get it again, and maybe spread it."
He pulled his mask up and so did a few other kids. I wondered what else they might not know.
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