It's that time of year where the sights outside the window are even distracting me, and today was a prime example. I was standing by the window when I noticed a fat squirrel directly below the window carrying a rather large nut. He hopped around and finally started to dig into the lawn with his tiny, bony hands. I had never seen such a great view of a squirrel burying a nut, so I told the kids to come to the window and watch. Once the hole was deep enough, the squirrel dropped his nut into it and covered it back up, packing it down using all his weight. It was adorable. I am going to bring my camera to try to catch him next time, and then I will post it here.
Well, the story doesn't end there because these are 7th graders, and they are very curious creatures, so I made sure to be next to the window later when they had recess. Sure enough! one of my students was digging in the grass where he thought he had seen the squirrel bury the nut. He was way off, and I was tempted to let him dig and search until it drove him nuts, but the vision of many little holes in our already beat up front lawn I knew would not please the janitors. So I knocked on the window, got his attention, gave him the evil eye, and shook my head at him. He stopped his search then, at least while I was watching . We'll see what happens tomorrow.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Cousin It?
Long hair is the style for boys it seems in our middle school, and this week I learned that sometimes there's more going on behind the hair than I thought - nothing bad, just amusing. I have a student whose bangs were so long that he reminded me of the sheep dog on those old bugs bunny cartoons or "Cousin It" from that old TV show "The Adams Family". No one could see his eyes. He wore glasses, and I would often see him carefully combing his hair nicely into place over them.
Well one day he came to class with a haircut and no glasses. I almost didn't recognize him. I asked him if he had gotten contact lenses, and he said no. He told me he had lost his glasses. He had no idea where they were. Every day after that when he came to class with no glasses and he was squinting at the board up front, I would ask him if he looked for them yet. One time I even sagely suggested, "They're probably under your bed."
After a week of no glasses, I asked him again where his glasses were. I guess my inquiries finally broke him down, because he admitted to me - "I don't like to wear my glasses." Then I asked him if his glasses were the reason why he wore his hair so long before, and aha! The glasses were the reason for the long hair, very interesting! I wonder what all these other long-haired boys are hiding??? On second thought, maybe I don't.
Another interesting side note - a creative definition. I told a class that they were very boisterous, and one girl thought the word meant a class that was made up of more boys than girls. I hate to sound biased, but she could be right!
Well one day he came to class with a haircut and no glasses. I almost didn't recognize him. I asked him if he had gotten contact lenses, and he said no. He told me he had lost his glasses. He had no idea where they were. Every day after that when he came to class with no glasses and he was squinting at the board up front, I would ask him if he looked for them yet. One time I even sagely suggested, "They're probably under your bed."
After a week of no glasses, I asked him again where his glasses were. I guess my inquiries finally broke him down, because he admitted to me - "I don't like to wear my glasses." Then I asked him if his glasses were the reason why he wore his hair so long before, and aha! The glasses were the reason for the long hair, very interesting! I wonder what all these other long-haired boys are hiding??? On second thought, maybe I don't.
Another interesting side note - a creative definition. I told a class that they were very boisterous, and one girl thought the word meant a class that was made up of more boys than girls. I hate to sound biased, but she could be right!
Friday, March 14, 2008
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.
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.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
In the hole
"Where's George (not real name) today?" I seem to ask on a daily, hourly basis about another missing student. It is flu season - same old, same old. Except this season instead of the same old responses - "I don't know" or "He's sick" or "She's at a band lesson." I got this response, "Oh, we threw him in the hole."
"Oh, really?" I replied. "Well, isn't he cold and hungry? Why don't you let him out?"
"No, he's fine. There's food and a television down in the hole."
"Oh, OK, I guess." It was a harmless and interesting metaphor - or so I thought at first.
The next week it was a different student in the hole, and the next week it was the one who created the whole myth in the hole. The myth creator told me the hole wasn't as nice as he originally thought it was, and he was glad to be back. "Well, I'm glad you are back too. Now let's fill in the 'holes' in your learning."
And then I fell into the hole. I got sick on a Saturday when my parents were visiting. I didn't say a word about being sick all day because we were going to a show that night. My parents were going to see my one-act play I wrote, starring them. I wasn't going to miss that for anything. By the end of the night, I was nauseous and had a fever of 101. I hate that darn hole! I felt as if I was going to die. I took my husband down with me, and he is mister "I-never-get-sick." I missed three days of school.
When I got back, I told my myth creating student that the hole is not a great place to be, and we need to fill it back up. He agreed whole-heartedly, but there are still more people getting sick, even those who had their flu shot.
Well, I guess one good thing about being sick is that it makes you appreciate being healthy again. Just like a cold winter really makes you appreciate sunshine and 40 degrees. Spring is coming. I can just feel it. I just hope once the snow is melted that the holes left behind aren't too difficult to fill.
"Oh, really?" I replied. "Well, isn't he cold and hungry? Why don't you let him out?"
"No, he's fine. There's food and a television down in the hole."
"Oh, OK, I guess." It was a harmless and interesting metaphor - or so I thought at first.
The next week it was a different student in the hole, and the next week it was the one who created the whole myth in the hole. The myth creator told me the hole wasn't as nice as he originally thought it was, and he was glad to be back. "Well, I'm glad you are back too. Now let's fill in the 'holes' in your learning."
And then I fell into the hole. I got sick on a Saturday when my parents were visiting. I didn't say a word about being sick all day because we were going to a show that night. My parents were going to see my one-act play I wrote, starring them. I wasn't going to miss that for anything. By the end of the night, I was nauseous and had a fever of 101. I hate that darn hole! I felt as if I was going to die. I took my husband down with me, and he is mister "I-never-get-sick." I missed three days of school.
When I got back, I told my myth creating student that the hole is not a great place to be, and we need to fill it back up. He agreed whole-heartedly, but there are still more people getting sick, even those who had their flu shot.
Well, I guess one good thing about being sick is that it makes you appreciate being healthy again. Just like a cold winter really makes you appreciate sunshine and 40 degrees. Spring is coming. I can just feel it. I just hope once the snow is melted that the holes left behind aren't too difficult to fill.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Classroom Smiles
I am falling behind in my posts. I feel a bit of writer's anxiety. Maybe it's the name of this blog that is intimidating me - laughs was a bit too ambitious of a term maybe? I should have called it "Classroom Smiles." Anyway, enough complaining. I guess I am just trying to explain that if this blog isn't always funny, well, it's not always supposed to be, but I do hope at least it makes you smile. OK, enough whining.
One thing that a student said to me that made me smile and chuckle was about loose-leaf paper, you know the paper that goes into 3 ring binders, the paper without fringes that sheets torn out of notebooks will have. Sometimes my colleagues tease me about my pet peeve about paper with fringes. I feel I need to explain. Fringes complicate and slow down the correcting process. When I have a stack of 100 papers to correct and the fringes get together, I can't whip through them like I can with a stack of loose leaf papers. Fringes can make an already tedious job even more frustrating, so I give students loose leaf when I have them do an assignment that I want to correct more quickly. Still, just like I always have one or two students forget to put their names on their papers, I always have one or two students give me paper with fringes. That's tolerable, at least, but I always wondered why they do that when I offer them loose-leaf paper to use. One student solved the mystery for me and made me chuckle when he told me he didn't really know that loose-leaf was a specific type of paper. He thought it was any sheet of paper that was "loose"!! Ha! Mystery solved! Now I know how Sherlock Holmes probably would feel after solving a puzzleing case (if he were real).
Anyway, Friday night was another dance. Mrs. Wise is an awesome dancer. I am glad she lets me be one of her back-up dancers. The kids and the Mr. K's did an awesome job with the dance to raise money for their charity. I just wish I could say they made a lot of money, but with having to pay the DJ, they needed at least 63 students to attend just to break even. I think there were at least 100 students there, so they raised some money. Mrs. Wise and I did our part to support the middle schooler's efforts and the high school's e-club's efforts. We went to the e-club's restaurant at the high school and enjoyed a nice dinner. The e-club created a restaurant at the high school also to raise money for a charity. I am grateful for these experiences for the students and the teachers who donate their time to help the students.
One thing that a student said to me that made me smile and chuckle was about loose-leaf paper, you know the paper that goes into 3 ring binders, the paper without fringes that sheets torn out of notebooks will have. Sometimes my colleagues tease me about my pet peeve about paper with fringes. I feel I need to explain. Fringes complicate and slow down the correcting process. When I have a stack of 100 papers to correct and the fringes get together, I can't whip through them like I can with a stack of loose leaf papers. Fringes can make an already tedious job even more frustrating, so I give students loose leaf when I have them do an assignment that I want to correct more quickly. Still, just like I always have one or two students forget to put their names on their papers, I always have one or two students give me paper with fringes. That's tolerable, at least, but I always wondered why they do that when I offer them loose-leaf paper to use. One student solved the mystery for me and made me chuckle when he told me he didn't really know that loose-leaf was a specific type of paper. He thought it was any sheet of paper that was "loose"!! Ha! Mystery solved! Now I know how Sherlock Holmes probably would feel after solving a puzzleing case (if he were real).
Anyway, Friday night was another dance. Mrs. Wise is an awesome dancer. I am glad she lets me be one of her back-up dancers. The kids and the Mr. K's did an awesome job with the dance to raise money for their charity. I just wish I could say they made a lot of money, but with having to pay the DJ, they needed at least 63 students to attend just to break even. I think there were at least 100 students there, so they raised some money. Mrs. Wise and I did our part to support the middle schooler's efforts and the high school's e-club's efforts. We went to the e-club's restaurant at the high school and enjoyed a nice dinner. The e-club created a restaurant at the high school also to raise money for a charity. I am grateful for these experiences for the students and the teachers who donate their time to help the students.
Monday, February 4, 2008
A Bunch of Animals
I was working on my computer during class, and something wasn't opening like it should, so I said "ARGGGG!" In response, one student said "Woof!" Another said, "Meow!" Another said "Moo!" I looked up, laughed, and thought, "I always knew you were a bunch of animals." I am grateful for students who can make me laugh when I am frustrated.
I am also grateful for some of the wacky advice they give me sometimes whether I ask for it or not. According to one 7th grade boy, the best way to catch a mouse (if you don't have cats) is to put a glass of soda outside the mouse's door. The mouse will drink the soda, and the carbonation will cause him to explode. This idea, in his mind, was a very good idea. When I asked him who was going to clean up all the mouse guts, he suggested that I get a cat to take care of the mess. Hmm! Could we have the answer to the age old problem of building a better mouse trap????? I don't know. I'm still wondering how to find the mouse's door.
I am also grateful for some of the wacky advice they give me sometimes whether I ask for it or not. According to one 7th grade boy, the best way to catch a mouse (if you don't have cats) is to put a glass of soda outside the mouse's door. The mouse will drink the soda, and the carbonation will cause him to explode. This idea, in his mind, was a very good idea. When I asked him who was going to clean up all the mouse guts, he suggested that I get a cat to take care of the mess. Hmm! Could we have the answer to the age old problem of building a better mouse trap????? I don't know. I'm still wondering how to find the mouse's door.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Tom rode the what????
This week I was watching PBS pioneers of television series, and they were talking about the history of game shows. They were explaining how not all comedians were good game show hosts and that the job of game show host is a lot harder than it looks. A game show host has to have thorough knowledge of all the rules and senarios involved with the game. They also must have an impeccable sense of timing so that they are ready for commercial breaks. In addition to having thorough knowledge of the game and impeccable timing, the host must be witty and charming to relate to and entertain the audience as well as the contestants. Then they had an analogy for how hard it was to be a TV game show host. They said it was like driving a car in reverse, down a winding mountain road as fast as possible, and cracking jokes at the same time.
I listened to all of this, and thought: I could do that! Most teachers could, because a teacher's job is very much like a TV game show host's. A teacher has to have in depth knowledge of the subject matter, the class activities, and the tools (technology etc.) they use to deliver their lessons. As if that weren't enough, they also need that impeccable sense of timing so that at the end of the class period, they are ready to move on to the next captive audience. There are just a few differences in the two jobs. If the same car-driving-down-a-mountain analogy were applied to teaching, first of all, there would be too many people in the car who were always trying to grab the wheel or jump out the windows, and the car would have to stop every 15 minutes for emissions testing which would cause the car to be behind schedule or not to ever reach its goal before taking on the next group of passengers.
Now, don't misunderstand me. I wouldn't really want to be a game show host. I love my job, and it is different. One day of playing monkey jeopardy to review for a math test is enough to convince me of that. Maybe it would be easier if I could just be the host and not have to come up with all the questions or the quirky props (squeaky monkey dog toy) to keep the "contestants" engaged. But I know that if I were a game show host, I would have a staff to take care of all the details, and I would completely miss out on precious moments like the one I experienced this week in class while we were correcting a math assignment.
I had the worked out solutions to all the homework projected on the screen. I blew the PDF file up to 200% size so that the students could see the problems they were correcting better, and suddenly, I noticed three boys who were pointing and laughing at the screen. "Look at that, Mrs. Wanty," they chortled. In the upper right corner of the screen was an answer to a story problem. We could only see part of the answer which read "Tom rode the fart." This was too much for all of us, and even though we discovered that the "fart" was really the "farthest", we had to discuss if the other meaning were really possible and what that would really look like, someone riding a fart. "Wow! story problems can be amusing!" I did not hesitate to say as I took full advantage of the teachable moment.
I wonder if that partial word ever showed up on "Wheel of Fortune", and if it did, were there any 7th graders or 7th grade teachers around to truly appreciate it? Probably not. Eat your heart out, Vanna!!!!
I listened to all of this, and thought: I could do that! Most teachers could, because a teacher's job is very much like a TV game show host's. A teacher has to have in depth knowledge of the subject matter, the class activities, and the tools (technology etc.) they use to deliver their lessons. As if that weren't enough, they also need that impeccable sense of timing so that at the end of the class period, they are ready to move on to the next captive audience. There are just a few differences in the two jobs. If the same car-driving-down-a-mountain analogy were applied to teaching, first of all, there would be too many people in the car who were always trying to grab the wheel or jump out the windows, and the car would have to stop every 15 minutes for emissions testing which would cause the car to be behind schedule or not to ever reach its goal before taking on the next group of passengers.
Now, don't misunderstand me. I wouldn't really want to be a game show host. I love my job, and it is different. One day of playing monkey jeopardy to review for a math test is enough to convince me of that. Maybe it would be easier if I could just be the host and not have to come up with all the questions or the quirky props (squeaky monkey dog toy) to keep the "contestants" engaged. But I know that if I were a game show host, I would have a staff to take care of all the details, and I would completely miss out on precious moments like the one I experienced this week in class while we were correcting a math assignment.
I had the worked out solutions to all the homework projected on the screen. I blew the PDF file up to 200% size so that the students could see the problems they were correcting better, and suddenly, I noticed three boys who were pointing and laughing at the screen. "Look at that, Mrs. Wanty," they chortled. In the upper right corner of the screen was an answer to a story problem. We could only see part of the answer which read "Tom rode the fart." This was too much for all of us, and even though we discovered that the "fart" was really the "farthest", we had to discuss if the other meaning were really possible and what that would really look like, someone riding a fart. "Wow! story problems can be amusing!" I did not hesitate to say as I took full advantage of the teachable moment.
I wonder if that partial word ever showed up on "Wheel of Fortune", and if it did, were there any 7th graders or 7th grade teachers around to truly appreciate it? Probably not. Eat your heart out, Vanna!!!!
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