Six More Minutes

Thursday. French. 

The way the lesson plans were written, it sounded like the teacher had been having issues with the class. So, I made sure to watch them carefully and try to keep them on task. 

It wasn't quite the end of the period, and they started packing up... 

Me: "You've still got, like, six minutes left of class."

Them: "Six... seven..."

I walked right into that one.

Just in case you were wondering how "six seven" is going, it's still going. Middle school classes are worse, but the high schoolers are in on the game too, just not as obnoxious about it. 

But something I just realized, as in last Friday... The last two digits of my cell phone number are six and seven. Because, of course. 

(No way am I giving that out to the kiddos, though.) 

Their Instructions

Friday. Halloween. Seventh grade science...

(If anyone recalls how I started last school year--long term for a maternity leave for a seventh grade science teacher--this room might look familiar. Yup, this is Ms. S's class, the class I covered last August/September.)

Because Halloween, Ms. S left a movie. Wall-E. Since the classes are 90 minutes long (block schedule), the kiddos started with a vocab assignment. 

The definitions were written on the white board. Then they were to illustrate the terms and use the terms in a sentence. They've done this before. Several wanted computers to look up images, but Ms. S said no computers. 

(I covered the class about a month ago, and I severely limited computer access per instructions. Those students who managed to find a good enough excuse to get permission to use a computer proved why no computers was the better way to go.) 

It was time to start the movie. But, while many of them had finished the assignment, many still had not completed copying the definitions of the terms. I warned them that I was going to pull down the screen, so they had only a couple minutes left for that task. 

Ms. S had left the movie on DVD and had that hooked up to her projector. 

The projectors were new technology a short time ago. They have been supplanted by the big TVs, but some teachers prefer the projectors. And in some cases those work better for some applications. 

I had not had a chance to test the equipment, but unlike with yesterday's post, I was sure this DVD player actually worked. But I wanted to have everything ready to go before I told a class of seventh graders that we were starting the movie. 

I turned on the projector. Then I turned on the DVD player. It immediately went into starting the movie... 

"You have to pull down the screen." 

"Turn out the lights." 

"I can't see the movie."

"Six seven..."

"We passed this part already." 

I didn't respond as they all shouted out instructions. Because really? I had it. Everything was working. And I was still waiting on one or two students to finish copying down the definitions before I pulled down the screen. 

So, I waited. I haven't quite figured out how to shame them into calming down. I can't compete with them all shouting instructions at me. But if I say nothing, they seem to think that I'm not hearing them or I don't understand what they're telling me. 

Eventually I was ready to get it all started. I explained that we were about ready to go, and that's when I pulled down the screen and fast forwarded to about the 20 minute mark (which was where Ms. S said they left off). 

That age just loves to explain things. They make sure the sub knows how things are supposed to go. Even though this sub did know what needed doing. 

As far as Halloweens go, this one was relatively sedate. 

Some previous Halloweens: 

• Bubble Gum Physics
• How to Address a Postcard
• A Gig on Halloween

Six Seven

Six is sharp, said quickly, intonation ascending. Seven is said more on a sigh, with the "sev" drawn out. While there is no wrong way to "six seven", there is a general consensus as to how it should sound. 

I first mentioned this whole thing two and half weeks ago. Since then, it's exploded. It wasn't even a week after that post that I first saw it on Inside Edition or some similar show. And, as I explained to my roommates, they didn't even scratch the surface. 

The problem is middle schoolers are so impressionable, and they will mimic and repeat ad infinitum anything that catches their ears. (They will sing commercial jingles. I have a particular memory of the "five dollar footlong" ad being repeated by one seventh grader years ago. He would not stop, just sang it over and over and over again.) 

Every. Day. Every. Hour. It's pretty constant now. 

As far as fads go, this one is fairly harmless. Just irritating. Because at this point it's ubiquitous. If I'm around middle schoolers, I'm going to hear it. (I hear it with high schoolers too, but not to the same degree.) 

So, now it's become don't-set-them-off. I was calling for kiddos to return their computers, and I deliberately counted down. Although, calling, "eight, seven, six..." had the same effect. Just uttering "seven" with regards to something will do it. (No one is saying "six" for any reason anymore.) 

The last couple days I've started singing "5309" at them. (If you know, you know.) They don't hear me, but I like it. 

It's just a matter of getting through. Because, something that exploded this hard this fast? It's going to die just as quickly. 

Right? It's going to die? Soon? 

Please tell me it's going to die soon. 

I'm so done with this. 

Six or Seven

Do you remember making jokes about 69 when you were a kid? (Or maybe you still do...?) 

So, I was mystified when the kiddos started laughing anytime I referred to 67. 67?!?

I was afraid to ask, but eventually I worked up the nerve. "Hey, what is this 6 or 7 thing all about?"

I did that a couple weeks ago, in the art class. And now that I know, I hear it everywhere. Seriously. Every. Where. All the kiddos refer to it. I hear it multiple times a day. 

And because I'm a giving person, I thought you all might like to know about the current meme. (Because if I have to know...) 

That's what started it. But what the kiddos are responding to...

So, yeah. If you're around any teens, say, "6 or 7". And watch their eyes light up. It's just so weird.