Some of my summer school kids saw the new Pixar movie and they thought I would like. They recommended I go see the movie "Rat-patooty". I had to laugh.
I had 2 thoughts: 1. Is this is a common mispronunciation for "Ratatouille" and 2. I wonder if Disney gives a rat's *ss. :-)
I have a soon-to-be 4th grader in my summer school class who was working on a math problem. The problem featured a bar graph with amounts of beverages served by the school cafeteria. He was answering the question, "If the cafeteria can only serve 2 beverages, which 2 should they serve?"
The student had only filled in one blank with Milk, which was the highest amount. Fruit punch was number 2 on the chart.
So I asked the student, "Why didn't you finish this problem? You need to put the 2nd highest amount on this line."
He replied, "Mr. B, I can get behind them serving milk because it has the most sold. But, fruit punch makes you go to the bathroom."
I said, "Well, the question is asking for the top 2 drinks and fruit punch is the 2nd highest."
His response, "OK, but Mr. B. fruit punch make you have to go pee!!!"
At that point, realizing he had thoughtfully considered his answer, I relented and said he could put whatever beverage he wanted for the second spot.
"It's not about the cheating. It's about the winning!"
--First grade girl, while playing concentration (matching game) after I asked if she was peaking at the cards.
I substituted for a 6th grade class last week and I got my butt kicked. Not physically, but mentally. The class was rambunctious and I couldn't really get them to focus on anything. And to finish the day off, a student told me that he had just "sharted" in his pants.
Last week, as I was washing sand and dirt from "linker cubes" (similar to Legos) after building mountains and building models in the school sandbox, I realized that I have taken quite a turn in my life.
Four months ago, I was sitting at a computer developing "business intelligence" applications for a multi-million dollar company. Yesterday, I got to play "Father Nature" by pouring water (flooding) on sand mountains and "linker buildings" constructed by my students during an erosion simulation. Let me tell you Father Nature is a pretty bad dude, wiping out mountains in about 30 seconds.
The good thing is I don't really miss my old job. I miss the people, but not the work or the corporate red tape. Yes, schools have plenty of bureaucracy, but I think it's for a better cause...kids.
This week in my college class I was asked if I had any "a-ha" moments to report from my teaching experiences in the past few weeks. My mind was blank. Nothing to share.
Over the past two weeks, I have been teaching a science unit on geology and rocks. The kids have had varied interest in what I have been teaching, but love to spend spare time in class examining, rubbing, playing and hanging out by the "Rock" table (a table covered in all sorts of rocks and minerals) in the back of the class.
However, yesterday I taught a lesson based on erosion. I started the lesson with a brief 7 slide Powerpoint with photos of erosion in the natural world. One of the pics was of a beautiful sandstone arch in Utah. Then we did "experiments" to simulate erosion by blowing, crushing and dripping (wind, pressure and water erosion, respectively) on sugar cubes (rocks). After blowing and crushing the cubes, the students got into groups and slowly dripped water on the sugar to watch the effects it had. In one of the cubes, as the water crumbled away, an arch formed. The kids were so excited to see that this photo they had viewed 20 minutes ago was recreated in their sugar cube.
I had my "a-ha" moment and I had to smile.
So, you know the Black Eyed Peas tune, "Let's get it started", right? In my classroom the other day I was trying to get started on a task and said something to the effect of "Hey guys, please have a seat. Let's get it started!"
All of a sudden, one of the quiet, shy kids jumps out of his chair and starts belting out the song complete with his own 2nd grader dance moves.
Let's get it started (ha), let's get it started in here.
Let's get it started (ha), let's get it started in here.
Yeah.
That's what I love about kids. This boy was totally comfortable to "lose control of body and soul" in front of me and his classmates. It was a definite high for me.
