Show and Tell in Elementary School

Actually, I think Show and Tell is kind of an odd practice. What is this business of, "Hey look at me, I have this cool thing that you don't have"? But when you're a kid and you're new to a country and every Friday afternoon you have Show and Tell, at some point you start wanting to take part. It's just the American way, I suppose.

Except I still didn't understand Show and Tell. There was a kid who brought in a geode (the first time I'd seen a geode), and I thought, "Oh, so I guess you can bring a rock to class and talk about it."

So at some point I brought in my own rock collection—I mean, a collection, in an egg carton and everything. And though it wasn't a terribly good collection, I even had my friend help me Show and Tell it. I think the teacher was a bit confused about what drove me to bring in such a lame collection to Show and Tell, but...hey. My American childhood mission accomplished.

(Not sure why I thought of that, but I remembered it with a tinge of embarrassed sadness. I think I'm going to blame my recent reading of Stephen Colbert's I Am America (And So Can You!)...)

[I got that image from someone's Tumblr...though that's not what that kid's geode looked like...]