On Teaching

The Team: Team Discover

(this is only half the team...)

The mission: Can we make a floating lantern that will not burst into flames?

We promised our 8th graders that if they passed 3rd term with a certain percentage we'd let them build those floating lanterns (like from Tangled). And we'd set them all off at once at the end of the year. Such a magical promise...

The students met the goal, because they're awesome, so now we're in the business of figuring out how these lanterns work.

Our first attempt included cotton balls, rubbing alcohol, and fire...If we had promised our 8th graders we would teach them how to make fireballs and how to get rid of pesky arm hair, it would have been a success.

This time around, we built a much bigger tissue paper balloon (to hold more air), and got a massive torch that, in theory, would blow hot air all up in that thang and send it flying. 

 This is how I helped:

 With our first try, the balloon lifted! It got about 30 feet and then fell down. A little anti-climactic. 

This is me helping again. Man, I'm so good at helping.  

We decided the hot air wasn't enough; it needed to last longer. "Oh, I got it," we said. "Let's try that fireball thing again!" So, we dipped a cotton ball in some alcohol and, after filling the balloon with hot air, we lit that sucker up .

The balloon flew higher this time..

...But crash landed. 

Luckily, we were smart this time and didn't let it catch itself on fire.

I guess we'll just have to modify our promise to the kids: "We're not sending off lanterns anymore. Oh no. We're going to watch tissue paper float around for about 20 seconds and then chase it! How does that sound!?!" 

I can hear their gleeful cheers already.

On Stirrings

This first picture is to show you what a great teacher I am:

They love me. Maybe one reason they love me is because I talk about things like "Stirrings."

If you've read The Giver, you know how wonderfully awkward chapter 5 is.
If you haven't, let me fill you in:

Jonas telling his dream from the previous night to his parents: 

"It was only me and Fiona, alone in the room standing beside the tub. She was laughing, But I wasn't. I was almost a little angry at her, in the dream, because she wasn't taking me seriously."

"Seriously about What?" Lily asked.

Jonas looked at his plate. For some reason that he didn't understand, he felt slightly embarrassed. "I think I was trying to convince her that she should get into the tub of water...I wanted her to take off her clothes and get into the tub," he explained quickly. "I wanted to bathe her. I had the sponge in my hand. But she wouldn't. She kept laughing and saying no."

He looked up at his parents. "That's all," he said.  

"Can you describe the strongest feeling in your dream, son?" Father asked.

 Jonas thought about it. The details were murky and vague. But the feelings were clear, and flooded him again now as he thought. "The wanting," he said. 

...

"Jonas," [Mother] said with a smile, "the feeling you described as the wanting? It was your first Stirrings."

I usually read that last line like this: "It was your first Stirrings!!!!!!"
It's the best to read with 8th graders. They giggle and look around the room, trying to make eye contact with anyone who is also looking around, giggling. Some kids yell, "Why are we reading this?!" and "This is not a children's book!" And I laugh and laugh.

I like to then further the awkwardness by asking, "So, what are Stirrings?"
My favorite answer I heard this year was: Hormones!

Now, I know what you're all thinking. You're thinking Where can I get some stirrings? 
Good news! You can get some Stirrings at Target. On clearance!

Quick 8th Grade Story

I just sneezed in class and while other kids were saying, "bless you" as loud as they possibly could without sounding rude because they LOVE being able to talk during silent reading time, one boy sang the quick , 2-word theme song: "Kim Possible."

hahahaha

WHAT?!

8th grade rules.

Those Telling 8th Grade Conversations...

We all know what's important in middle and high school - the music you listen to! The music you listen to determines who your friends are and who you hang out with. Just admit it. You know it's true.

Case and point:

First day of 8th grade Algebra, I turned around to the girl behind me and asked, "Do you like MxPx?" (or I might have said The Hippos...)

I didn't know this girl. I had no reason to really be friends with her. As far as I knew, all we had in common was Algebra. But, she said yes and we started an instant friendship: Hangin' out, going to the skate park, button making parties, going to the movies, going to shows. Oh, so many shows... and we're still friends to this day. We were roommates for a while in college, I introduced her to her husband (kind of), and we were even in each other's weddings! Who knows, if she would have said, "Who?" instead of her enthusiastic, "Yes!" our lives would have been so much different...

It's fun to now be on the outside of those very funny and very telling "what bands do you like?" conversations. I love walking around class, eaves dropping, in hopes I'll over hear a hilarious 8th grade conversation.

I got a new student yesterday which is prime time for those conversations. You know the first thing kids do is look at what she's wearing. Is it a band shirt? Is she wearing skinny jeans? Any girly accessories? Then, once they've decided if her style matches theirs, they can move in for the kill and ask the very telling questions...

Girl in class: So, what kind of music do you like?

New girl: Metal Core.

Girl in class: Oh, cool what bands?

Metal core?! My response would not have been, "Oh, cool what bands?" It would have been more like: "What?! Hahahahahahaha. That sounds hilarious and possibly awesome. Are the songs just all screaming about wrestling?...Do you have a lot of angst?"

So, I guess they're meant to be friends. They both like...metal core.

Short Stories

I have to read 200 short stories this week. Some of them are pretty good.

Here are 2 of my favorite excerpts so far:

"Well it all started around the year of World War 3. We fought that war for 20 years against Jamaica."

"He took the bat and took a swing at my head! I started to run. He started to run after me and he was fast!....I had a plan to turn around when he got close and punch him in the face. It worked."

Oh, 8th graders. You are so funny.

8th Grade Wisdom

Overheard in my 8th grade class today:

"Know what's weird? When people go out with someone and then they have crushes on other people. What's up with that? What's the point?"

Well said, kid. Well said.

No Gum Allowed!

Here's my funny teaching moment for the day:

The students just finished doing a worksheet, finding information about characters by what other characters did and said. I was asking for volunteers to share what they had discovered in their groups.

I look out into a sea of glossy eyes. Very few hands raised.

Vanessa has a giant bubble blown, and it is just sitting there in front of her face like that scene from Ferris Bueller's Day Off:

Yeah, totally like that.

So I say, "Vanessa, spit your gum out," and attempting to just brush over the gum issue and get right back into the discussion I say, "anyone else?" meaning: "anyone else want to share before we move on?"

One boy lets out a big sigh, heaves himself out of his seat, and walks over to the trash can where he spits his gum out too.

Hahahahahahahahahahaha

I said, "Well, I wanted volunteers for the characters worksheet, but yes, spit out the gum too."

Oh, how I chuckled.

It's like that time Rachel insisted that The Creamery used whoppers in their shakes. And I told her she was CRAZY! We almost lost our friendship that night. Turns out, she was talking about the chocolate candy; I was talking about Burger King.

8th Graders and Pauly Shore

I feel so lucky to have a mother who was part of Beatlemania. She instilled in me a love for those 4 men, and I in turn stole all of her Beatles records.

Kelly and I now have a nice little collection of records and this sweet turn table that I bought at a St. Vincent DePaul in Kentucky for 3 dollars 10 years ago.

So, when teaching setting to my 8th graders this week, I brought in my record player and some Beatles records to get us in the 60s mood for The Outsiders.

The lights were off because we were taking notes from a PowerPoint and I said, "Let's go back in time... It's 1965 and ya'll just came over to my house to hang out. 'Hey guys, wanna sit around and listen to my new Beatles record?!'" At this point the students were held in suspense as I picked up an actual Beatles record and pulled it out of its case in front of them:

Gasps.

WHAT IS THAT?!

IS THAT A RECORD?!

IS THAT REAL?!

HOLY CRAP!

I had to shush them, "Calm down, guys. Yes it's real. Do you want to listen to it?"

Of course they did.

Their eyes were huge the whole time the record was playing and questions were sporadically yelled out, "How does it work?" "Is there only one song?" "That's huge!"

I had no idea showing 8th graders a record would be so much like Encino Man.

They totally made that face. And I was totally Pauly Shore.

It was a dream come true.