Mr. Grinch

Another one about my sophomores, because...of course.

As I think I've stated, we're currently reading Night which is about the holocaust. Today I had my kids work on a project where they made charts about who they feel holds the most responsibility for the holocaust. One of my kids was playing around and filled in the "Hitler" slice of her pie chart with a picture of Hitler, clever, but not exactly what we're doing. So I told her Hitler should be green, and a second student said, "Like the Grinch!"

She then proceeded to write what must be by this point the full length version of "You're a Mean One, Mr. Hitler."

Bonus points for creativity today.

R.E.M.

I feel like I always blog about my sophomores. It's not that my other classes aren't interesting and funny, it's just that my sophomores tend to catch me off guard and make me laugh, so I feel the need to share.

English II is currently reading Night by Elie Wiesel, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the book, it's about the Holocaust from the perspective of the author. It's a heavy book, obviously, the topic of the Holocaust is a dark one, then couple it with themes like religion, lack of faith, losing faith, and family? However, it's one of my favorites to do, because most kids have read other books from the same period, and there's so much you can do with historical tie-ins and such.

Anyhow, today we hit the part where the main character starts to say things indicating his loss of faith and struggle with religious identity.

Me: If I say R.E.M. is it going to mean anything to any of you?

Blank stares abound. A couple nods, a couple head shakes.

Student One: Yeah, it's a math term!

Me: *Blank stare* Uh....no?

Student Two: Oh, Student One, it's a band.

Me: They sing a song called "Losing my Religion" I thought it was fitting...but it's all good.

I'm 26. I feel like they should get my references more often. I swear, teaching high school makes a girl feel ancient.

Stay Fresh

Days before breaks are always fun.

Today, one of my juniors is looking at his shoe, he's honestly contemplating it pretty hard. "I wish they made something so shoes stayed fresh." 

Me: "Like the smell?"

Student: "What? No? They don't smell bad." He proceeds to sniff his shoe, then offers it to me and says, "Do they?"

Me: "I'm not smelling your shoe. What do you mean by fresh?"

Student: "I mean, like when your feet get hot in it, I just wish they had little fans in there."

I laugh, we go about our business. A couple minutes later he says, "Or a shoe air conditioner..."

In ten years when someone invents shoes with fans/air conditioners on the inside, it'll probably be my kid. I'm so proud.

Patience and the Need for Hearing Aids...

   Demonstrative speeches tend to be a little time consuming due to the setup and tear down aspects. Especially when it's a food related speech. Today my kids were a little off in addition to getting speeches ready. We had the first round playoff game last night for football and it went great, which means the kids are thinking about football, not English.

   One of my kids was trying to hurry every one up, even though he has already given his speech. But he was supposed to be helping his twin sister with hers; she would use him to demonstrate how to escape an attack.

Student: Hurry up, guys! Let's go, guys! Come on!

Me: Relax. Student, patience is a virtue.

Student: Well, she might, but not on purpose. We've practiced.

Me: (Long pause, where I just look at him in confusion.) Wait, what?

Student: Wait, what did you say?

Me: Patience is a virtue?

Student: Oh, I thought you said 'Paige is going to hurt you.'

These kids of mine...

Math in English Class?

   Sometimes when we have some free time, I let my kids work on homework. Today is one of those days. One of my sophomores was working on IXL and asked me a question. I said that even though I'm not good at math, I knew that squared and to the third weren't the same thing. My student replied, to the third is cubed. I just laughed and said exactly, I'm not good at math.

   Another student goes, "So the third is cubed. So November third is November cubed." Completely straight-faced.

   We all laughed. Sometimes, these kids of mine crack me up.

Politics in English I

   I rearranged my room recently, and I put them in pods. Honestly, one of the bravest choices I've made in my teaching career. It's a mixed bag in terms of behavior and student reaction.

   Today in English I they were working on argumentative papers about a modern controversy or issue. It's interesting to say the least....

   So my kids are working away and all of a sudden two hands shoot up, a boy and a girl who are currently sitting right next to each other. In unison they said, "I can't sit by him! He likes Trump!" "I can't sit by her! She supports Hillary!" This led to a class wide debate on last night's debate, the current issues, the main concerns. While it's overwhelming and sometimes a little hard to bite my tongue when they're SO opinionated and SO strong in their belief that the view they have is the only one worth having, I have to give it to my freshmen that they are very well versed in what's going on around them. It's impressive to me, because when I was their age I couldn't even tell you who was the South Dakota governor, let alone what was going on in national politics.   

Gaze-boo?

We started demonstrative speeches today in the English II. Which is...always interesting. Usually it results in a lot of food, which I never complain about.

Anyhow.

So my kids are googling topics, because of course, and one of them is reading them off.

Student: "How to build a gaze-boo."

Me: Not looking at the list on the computer, "Pretty sure that word is gazebo."

Student: "I'm pretty sure it's gaze-boo."

Student Two: Looking over Student One's shoulder, "Yeah...that's pronounced gazebo."

Never a dull moment with my sophomores.