tangents of the 7th grade mind

Recently we were talking about how in many countries with very dry climates, people store rainwater in barrels in order to have enough water throughout the year. A 7th grade boy (who I probably should not have called on given his track record for stories) raised his hand and said he had a story to tell. I said to him "does your story have to do with conserving water?" and he proudly said"yes!" It should have been a clue of things to come when he started to laugh before the story began. He goes on to tell a story about a time at his lake house when their water main broke. He rambled a bit and then his story ended with the following: "so my dad says, if it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down."

not sure exactly how that correlates to rain barrells.

new seats!

the first day of 4th quarter was filled with delight as students saw a new seating chart posted on my classroom door.

and then delight quickly turned to sadness as they noticed that for some reason, none of them were sitting next to their friends.

when do you think they'll figure out that seating charts are the teachers ultimate classroom management tool? when might they understand that in jr high they will NEVER sit by their friends on purpose.

my favorite complaint said to me once after class"eww i don't want to sit by him, he eats his boogers..." yeah well, I bet you won't be talking to him during class then huh?