History of Panem - Lesson One

[Principal Johnson]

Principal Johnson sat in yet another class, but this time, it was not his normal Roleplaying class. He was teaching the first lesson of the Hunger Games classes. Specifically the "History of Panem" class. He had always been fond of the Hunger Games series. Both the books and the movies. He had read and watched all of them. He could say that for a lot of fandoms, and Hunger Games was one of them.
Mr. Johnson flipped open the lesson plan, and reviewed it one more time. His consciousness was telling him to stop worrying, but he couldn't. He had taught one class so far. As far as he could tell, it went well. The class left excited. But still, that was ONE lesson. Would this one be different? AND it wasn't the same class. This was a Hunger Games class. What if he didn't meet the students expectations? What if they just thought it was boring? After all, it was a history class.
Hey, slow down... he told himself. It's alright.
It was so not alright.
But either way, students were beginning to enter the classroom. Once they were all more or less seated, and the bell had rung, Mr. Johnson stood up and addressed them.
"Good morning students." he said, "If you don't already know me, my name is Principal Johnson. I will be teaching your first Hunger Games class. Welcome to the History of Panem. Now, first thing's first... who can tell me where Panem is?"
Instantly, a few excited hands shot up. Mr. Johnson pointed at one red haired girl in the third row.
"Panem is in North America, or more specifically, where the United States is, or in this case, was." she answered in a matter of factly way.
"Yes, exactly." Mr. Johnson said, glad that his students already had some prior knowledge. "Now, Panem- oh! Wait..." Mr. Johnson shook his head. "I'm sorry, I already forgot the first part of the lesson!" Principal Johnson laughed nervously, which thankfully got a few chuckles rippling across the room, as he went back to his desk and grabbed a small stack of papers. He started passing them out to the students, and once he was done, he sighed and went up to the board. He took a piece of chalk and drew a two-by-two chart. He labeled one column, "Know" and the other column, "Want to Know". Then, he turned back to his students.
"Copy this chart on your papers first. Write what you already know about Panem, and then what you want to know about Panem."
Phew, Mr. Johnson thought to himself, this will be MUCH easier... I'm glad I remembered that.
Once it seemed that the students were mostly done, he pointed to a boy in the first row and asked, "What's something you already know about Panem?"
The boy looked nervous at first, but then he stammered out, "Oh, uh... Panem is... made up of twelve districts?" he said, although it sounded like more of a question.
The red haired girl shot her hand up again, and when the principal pointed at her she spoke.
"Actually, Panem was made up of thirteen districts, and the Capitol, before the First Rebellion. After the First Rebellion, District Thirteen was widely believed to have been destroyed, but for about 75 years after the First Rebellion, Discrict Thirteen actually lived on as a secret, independent nation underground."
"Very good, both of you!" Principal Johnson praised. He was glad to see that at least some of the students already knew a good deal about Panem and it's history.
"Now, does anybody want to share something they WANT to know?" he asked the class. Nobody raised their hand. "What about you?" he asked the red haired girl who answered all the other questions.
"Oh, um..." she said, suddenly not so eager to answer a question, "Maybe what you have to teach?"
Some other students snickered, but Mr. Johnson ignored them.
"That's alright." he assured her. "We're here to learn, so that's not a bad answer." he said with a soft chuckle. He took a few steps back to the board, and erased the chart he had drawn before picking up the chalk again and writing the numbers zero through thirteen (zero was for the Capitol.
"Now, does anybody know what all thirteen districts specialize in?"
Quite a few hands rose up to answer that question. Mr. Johnson would be very impressed if even one of them knew all of them, and he thought it very well might be the red haired girl who would answer all of them. However, he wanted to call on some others first.
The first one he called on answered, "District Twelve is mining!"
"Duh, that's the easiest one!" Another student jeered.
"Well then, why didn't you answer it?" Principal Johnson nonchalantly asked. A few of the other students laughed, and the jeering student quieted down. "Any others?"
"District Four, fishing!"
"District Thirteen, graphite and nuclear!"
After a minute or so, the board had been completely filled up.
"Alright, now, let's go over them: The Capitol, District One - Luxury, District Two - Masonry, District Three - Technology, District Four - Fishing, District Five - Power, District Six - Transportation, District Seven - Lumber, District Eight - Textiles, District Nine - Grain, District Ten - Livestock, District Eleven - Agriculture, District Twelve - Mining, District Thirteen - Graphite and Nuclear.
"Remember these, because they very well might be on a test, hint, hint..." Principal Johnson said, making it very obvious on purpose.
He glanced at the clock, realizing it was time to go. Well, he wasn't complaining, he was tired.
"Alright, class ends in just a couple of minutes, so go ahead and pack up and you can leave when the bell rings." he told the class. They all started standing up and talking, and Mr. Johnson sat down in his chair at his desk. Another class gone by, would he ever feel comfortable with them? He wish he had enough confidence as heroes like Katniss... that's an interesting thought for a principal, he thought.