Hood Nuggets

So last year I had the amazing opportunity to take 8 of my students backpacking on the Appalachian Trail.  Most of my students haven't been outside of the city let alone in the woods sleeping under tarps.  To out it mildly, we were stepping out of our comfort zone. 

Day 1 was good except my kids were all very quiet.  They were shell shocked in a way I suppose.  It took until halfway through the second day before they turned back to form.  

One of my funniest students ("M") was on the trip and really, the guides we had with us had no idea how to handle him.  M was loud, sort of inappropriate, and the complete opposite of shy.  The tour guides had made a habit of stopping frequently to explain the things in nature we were seeing.  They'd begin, "here's a nature nugget: moss grows on this side of a tree because..."  and "here's a nature nugget: frogs can turn different colors because...".  In true form, M decided that learning is a two way street and didn't think it was fair that only the students were getting these wonderful nuggets of knowledge.

The following interaction between myself, M, and the rest of the camping expedition happened exactly like this:
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Tour Guide 1 (Ms.  S):  Hey guys!  Here's a nature nugget!  Did you know that when you burn wood, if it's really smokey it's because the wood is really wet.  What you are seeing is the evaporation of the water and fire mixed together."

M - Hey Ms. S, I don't think it's fair that you are the only one who gets to give out nuggets.  I mean you teach us all this nature stuff, I want to teach you a couple of things in case you're ever in the hood and need to survive.  You know; some hood nuggets.

Ms S.-  (Laughing) Ok M.  I think that's fair, every time I give you a Nature Nugget, you can give me a Hood Nugget...

(time elapse about 20 minutes)

Ms S.  Oh hey guys, here's a nature nugget!  Did you know that frogs like this one can change their color to protect themselves from danger?  Their skin is designed to match whatever it is they are sitting on!  How cool is that?!

M- Hey guys! Here's a Hood Nugget for you: if you are ever walking down the street later than 10:00 at night and a black SUV rolls up behind you with tinted windows, duck behind a car because its probably a drive by and you don't want to be hit.

Needless to say, M's Hood Nuggets became wildly popular and he had a few other gems...  Here's my other favorite Hood Nugget from that trip...

M- Hey here's a Hood Nugget!  If you ever need to knock on someone's door but it's dark outside, make sure you step back from the door, keep your hands in plain sight and be polite when someone answers the door.  Chances are they have a gun or a knife with them because no one should be knocking on your door that late at night without a search warrant...