Thursday, March 2, 2017

SOLSC #2 - Snippets from my classroom

For the fourth year, I am participating in the SOLSC and guiding students from my classroom and my school on the same writing journey. Here is the link to our school blog and the 15-20 students who are participating in the Classroom Challenge.
Snippets from my classroom:

My classroom is a busy place with middle school students working on a very wide variety of projects and skills. Usually, they are given large chunks of time to complete their assignments and I don't care what order they get their work done. The work for this week is due on Monday morning and includes: Projects on their independent units, reading a book, a class art project, negotiating treaties in The World Peace Game, Slicing, math, and honing a skill of their choice for an hour. With so many things to work on, the snippets of conversation, (especially the questions) I hear are exciting, hilarious, scary and puzzling. A few examples from this morning are:

"Listen to my Rap!"
"Why were otters important to that tribe?"
"How many megawatts are generated with geothermal energy?"
"So do I find a dead squirrel or what?"
"That is soooo cool! Where did you find that gadget?"
"How do mermaids reproduce?"

With the exception of the mermaids question, I'm 95% sure all of them were directly related to projects they are working on...and I get to help them find their ways to the answers.



12 comments:

  1. Ummmm....how do mermaids reproduce? This is a great, funny post, and I expect you will find a lot more to add to it by the end of the month :)

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  2. Btw, mermaids are magic. they apear out of oysters.

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    Replies
    1. yes. that is how it works. do. not. correct. me.

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    2. If I am not allowed to correct you, may I at least ask how they fit in an oyster?

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    3. They're very big oysters.

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    4. This is a lot funnier imagining that there was a typo and you all said otters instead.

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    5. Really, would they form like pearls or something? That would mean that mermaids are centered around irritants to the oyster, like sand or something... or even a very lost otter, for that matter.
      Fearless, you should really know by now that telling us expressly not to do something guarantees it happening.

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  3. So great that they are coming up with the questions - they are the ones doing the work then!
    And the mermaid question seems like a perfect fit for middle school kid!

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  4. Those are hilarious post. Thanks for sharing.

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  5. Fearless, you weren't there. We talked about fish reproduction and then attempted to apply that to a half-human. Which turned into a long conversation about the Little Mermaid and how strange it is that they have belly buttons. It was pretty demented, actually. But Max-- GREAT review. These are wonderfully out of context and it's a great idea. Aand this conversation was really fun to walk in late on, with a way-too-heavy backpack and overnight bag. Nice job!

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  6. Haha, I remember you reading this before we left from school. I like how random the snippets are.

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  7. Fun to read for me, Max. Sounds like a busy day in your class! Love that you shared some of the words!

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