Wednesday, March 09, 2005
Things That Were Thrown Around in My Classroom Today
- Paper Balls (consisting primarily of class notes provided by teacher)
- Pencils and pens (several of each in various states of writing readiness)
- Lip balm (including at least one small container of Halal Lip Balm which caught my eye as an interesting artifact.)
- Old pieces of candy (similar in appearance to pastel colored Mike & Ike Candies)
- Pieces of soap (Dial, antibacterial!)
- Punches (several, between two normally calm students during my advisory; needless to say, I doubt I'll have to deal with either student for the rest of the week)
- Excuses ("I didn't bring in my simple machine project today because...", "We weren't fighting!" , etc.)
- Nuclear weapon design spec.'s (Fat Man and Little Boy a specialty!)
- Random movie allusions (Look very closely. There is no textbook. There is just energy standing still.)
- Ironic musical numbers (Dr. Strangelove's final moments, watching the bombs drop to the strains of "We'll Meet Again")
- World-famous equations (Something about energy, mass, and the speed of light)
- Insults ("As a class, this period's behavior stinks!")
- Compliments ("There are no easy answers when it comes to the atomic bomb, but you are asking the right questions. I hope you keep thinking about them.")
- Personal anecdotes ("I had an uncle who was on Tinian!")
- Political discussions ("Why don't we just nuke Iraq?")
- Probing queries ("Are you Jewish?" "Are you a Republican or a Democrat?" "If you're an Independent, does your party ohave a mascot?")
- Education (flung about like nobody's business...but only in certain classes)
