lesson time

+--------------- Bizarre Teaching Methods ------------------+  
  
Coach Mark Davies of Darwin, Australia, has a peculiar method of motivating his 13- to 21-year old swimmers to break their own records. He drops a crocodile into the pool. Since Davies started this practice, the swimmers' times have improved considerably.  

Dr. George Plitnick, a professor of physics at Frostburg State University in Maryland, dresses up like a wizard to teach a class called "The Science of Harry Potter." With only a few props, such as a petri dish and a bit of liquid nitrogen, Plitnick attempts to answer such questions as "Can objects really be levitated?"  

Magnus Skarphedinsson of Reykjavik, Iceland, is an elf historian and headmaster of the Icelandic Elf School, which has issued more than 4,000 diplomas in elf studies. According to Skarphedinsson, more than half the population of Iceland believes in elves, dwarfs, gnomes, and other such creatures.  

At Dronfield Secondary School in Derbyshire, England, a spaniel by the name of Henry Fanshawe Smart works as a classroom assistant. He was appointed to his position to help teachers deal with student behavioral problems. Henry is so good at his job that as soon as he trots into a room, a group of 30 energetic students immediately begin to calm down. 

In the 1980s, retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Roger Wells of Valparaiso, Florida, regularly assigned research projects to an English class at a junior high school in NYC, more than 1,000 miles away. Wells broadcast the assignments over shortwave radio and mailed souvenirs he'd picked up on his world travels to the students who produced the best work. 

Ji Ping, the head teacher at an elementary school in Shanghai, China, lets the students borrow grade points against their future marks as long as they agree to pay them back with interest. Ten-year-old Cai Wenyi, who just missed getting the top grade on a math test, was allowed to borrow the point she needed for an A+. Although she had to deduct two points from her next test, she still got herself out of debt by scoring an extra 19 points on her exam!

Teacher John Honey wanted to demonstrate to his students that gambling is a waste of both time and money. Sure that they'd be losers, Honey bought 24 lottery tickets - one for each of his students. Imagine his surprise when one of the tickets turned out to be a winner worth $1,000. Oops!