Getting Warmer?

The sun shines so brightly in my classroom windows and heats up the desks. Touching the sunny desktops almost feels like touching a hot iron. I am very lucky to have a room with windows. I was surprised today when I went out for bus duty and it wasn't as warm as I thought it was. It's still wonderful to have the hot sun in my room.

Speaking of hot, I realized this week that I need to watch how I say things with 7th grade students. We were graphing positive and negative numbers on a number line, and I told the students to tell me where to put a point using the "you're cold" or "you're getting warmer" directions from that old game. After I graphed my point, I asked if any other students would like to come up and try graphing a point with help from the class. A brave, smart, and mischievous boy volunteered. He walked up to the board and the first thing he said to the class was - "OK, now tell me when I'm HOT!"

I could tell by the smirk on his face, that he had something else in mind, so I quickly said, "Why don't we just tell you when you're closer or farther away from the point." After that class, I didn't use the warmer/colder game again. I learned my lesson . . . again.