Best Lesson:

Long ago and far away, I taught school for about 10 years. They were typical country schools in isolated farm areas of Saskatchewan with any number of grades present.

My best score was 42 students in 10 grades. Lots of fun if you were able to accept the situation for what it was and try to make the best of it.

It was the summer of '54 and close to the apex of the era of climate change which began in the bone-dry '30s and evolved through about 25 progressively wetter years. By the mid '50s, established lakes filled their basins to overflow and new lakes formed where cow pastures had been only a couple of years earlier.

A spring of rapid snow melt, torrential water flow, too small culverts and flooded roadways evolved into a wet but sunny summer with squadrons of mosquitoes hatching in every puddle. Nature tackled the mosquito swarms with armies of hungry dragonflies that came in every color and size the genetics of the species would allow.

The largest were brilliant green and yellow with two-tone fuselages and clear wings. The mid-sized ones were mostly blue with black trim and the smallest and nimblest were  dressed in shades of rust, crimson and scarlet. Some actually sported neat racing stripes along both sides.

They were a delight to watch--almost like airborne jewelry. And if you listened carefully, you could hear the dry rustle of their wings as they maneuvered to trap mosquitoes.

It was lunch time. Instead of eating in the hot confines of the school cottage, I took my sandwich outside, sat on the grass in the shade around the corner and started eating.

Upward of a dozen children grabbed their lunch boxes and trotted over to join me. The topic of discussion that erupted was about the swarms of dragonflies flitting around everywhere.

"Howcum so many?" was the question one little girl asked, so I went through the spiel of mosquitoes vs dragonflies which I figured was a natural for an effective science lesson.

"You mean they actually catch the mosquitoes and eat them?"

I nodded.

"Yecch! How?"

"As you can see, the dragonflies are very good flyers. That's because they each have two paralell sets of wings," I explained. "The people who study insects say the front wings stir the air and the back wings use the currents to propel them forward, back, up or down. It's all done automatically. That's how they evolved"

The kids were tuned in. I had their full attention. I continued. 

"They can also stand still in the air just like helicopters. They trap the bugs with their legs formed into a basket and bite their heads off," I ventured, thinking that there was no way they could disprove that.

"Then they just chew them up and swallow."

There was a long moment of silence with some of the smaller ones hesitating with their chewing, but only for a thoughtful moment. Clearly, the idea of eating mosquitoes had little appeal.

"So what do they do with the wings?" the little girl asked.

"I guess they just spit them out," I guessed.

As I said this, a little red dragonfly landed on my extended index finger and a dozen pairs of eyes immediately focused in. It was especially significant because it was noticeably munching on a mosquito.

As we all stared, mesmerized, the dragonfly ingested the pulped-up mosquito, and we thought we saw the wings fluttering down onto the end of my fingernail and sliding off with the air currents.

Having thus finished its lunch, the dragonfly lifted straight off and the astounded kids all exhaled and started to speak at the same time. 

After that dragonfly came to lunch with us, I could have told this group that the earth was flat and they probably would have had no trouble believing me.