Friday, March 3, 2017

A Burning Question?


7th grade science. The teacher had a meeting for the last period of the day, so I came in to cover on my prep period. As he was on his way out, the teacher warned me that the class could be a little difficult, and I was to leave him the names of any troublesome students.

Surprisingly, they managed to settle fairly well, although many weren't getting all that much work done. Too much talking. After they "finished" their warm up, I was to explain their assignment. I passed out the paper...

"Where do babies come from?"

The boy was on the other side of the room. I continued to pass out paper.

Now, while this is not an unreasonable question, the timing was awful. The class was loud. I was in the midst of getting them ready to do the next thing. And reproduction was not the topic for the day. So, I ignored the boy.

I finished passing out their paper. I turned on the projector (this was the sort of assignment that needs an example). But before I could get going, the boy doubled down...

"If they don't want us to know, why is this in our textbook?"

The boy held up a page showing... well, it's a life science class, and the end of the book has a unit on organ systems. I'll leave it to your imagination.

I picked up the standards for "causing a disruption" and gave it to the boy. (Standards are where they make them copy lines as punishment, in this case for disrupting class.) Then I attempted to explain what they were expected to finish by the end of the period.

Some students will do anything to get out of doing work. This boy was an amateur.

28 comments:

  1. I'm sure it was a subject that stays on his mind more and more these days. ;)
    Barbara from Life & Faith in Caneyhead

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  2. I wonder if he'll pay attention when the class does get to that section?

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  3. Boys think about reproduction from puberty well into manhood. My middle school gr-daughter think boys are stupid (well, they are) and they break things.

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    1. Boys are stupid, and they do break things. Although, not all...

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  4. Well, he's only in seventh grade. Give him time and he'll be an expert disrupter.

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  5. Let's hope he won't advance to anything further than an amateur and will eventually settle down and do his work. After all, he is still only in 7th grade :)

    betty

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  6. I think Susan Kane hit the nail on the head.
    Coffee is on

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  7. It was always on my mind as a young girl, even when I didn't have a clue the reason. And that was way before seventh grade. Greg Evigan starred in many a fantasy back in the day. Imagine what happened when I found my dad's magazine stash. Ugh.

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  8. Wow...only an amateur in screwing things up and doing nothing....he aims high in life doesn't he? :)

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    1. I just mean compared to some of the disruptions I've seen. See Thursday's post.

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  9. Hi Liz - I really don't envy you your job! So difficult - but time passes and I guess somewhere along the line he'll learn: one hopes ... cheers Hilary

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  10. Difficult job but definitely a rewarding one, I find :)

    I wish you a wonderful weekend, Liz! :)

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  11. Goodness! What age are these kids??

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  12. Somewhat amusing, but then, I don't teach. Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com

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    1. Oh, this was meant for the laugh. Nothing I post on my blog is meant to be taken too seriously. If I can't laugh at them, I'm lost.

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  13. Yeah, but a certain type of boy will tend to that gravitate to that section in a science book. And by "certain", I mean most of them!

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  14. Sadly, some "boys" don't grow out of that disruption phase and continue to do anything to get out of work. I worked with a 20-year-old like that...thankfully, he quit last month.

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    1. Sadly, some never mature. But luckily as adults we can largely ignore them. Most of the time.

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  15. oh my goodness. This post was slightly painful to read.

    Although, I suppose, if this was the worst of the day, that's not too bad. :)

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    1. Some days are better than others. This was a pretty good day.

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  16. I love your posts. Like today, many of them take me back in time. Today's post made me recall the day my six-year-old daughter asked that dreaded question. "Where did I come from?" After a lengthy, stumbling explanation about the birds and bees, I asked what made her want to know. She shrugged and said, "I was just wondering. My friend, Donna, said she came from Chicago."

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  17. LOL he has a lot to learn. In more than one way ;)

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