Monday, March 21, 2005
Well nigh invulnerable!
Another tale from my last period class. Things have deteriorated with that crowd. Before they were merely disrespectful. Now they're downright intransigent. So, I decided to fight fire with fire, as it were. If they refuse to quiet down and be good students, I decided I was not going to waste my time trying to deliver complicated lessons. So for the past few days, they have been copying notes off the overhead and doing other busy work. Unfortunately this has done less to break their spirits than one might expect because now they see it as an opportunity to do more work and raise their flagging grades. (Top average score right now is around a 70%.)
Anyhow, the students were working, copying notes on circuits and chatting about the latest exciting news from the realm of hip-hop music when suddenly one of the guys yells:
"TICK!!!!"
Immediately, the entire side of the room is in a panic. I don't think I've ever seen it quite as bad. Students got up on their chairs...some ran to the other side of the room. There was talk of Lyme disease being bandied about. Despite all the chatter, the arachnid itself remained elusive once the lights had been turned on. I attempted to convince the students rationally that there was nothing to fear, but as is so often the case at Underwood my arguments were like tennis balls against a brick wall; nothing stuck.
I then moved toward the argumentative, asking why my students, who are normally so declare how tough they are, were so scared of a little insignificant tick? Tales of Lyme disease popped up again. One student said ticks were worse than mice because at least mice would get scared and run away upon confrontation. Another then commented that you could not crush a tick. They were indestructible! (IN-DE-STRUCT-ABLE!)
"Is that true, Mr. _______?"
"Is it true? You can't crush a tick!"
"Ticks can only be killed by fire!"
And so forth.
Finally, exasperated, I told them the truth:
"You know what, kids? You're right. Ticks are indestructible. In the entire history of human civilization, not one person has ever successfully crushed a tick to death. They are immortal. And the worse part is that if a tick bites you and sucks your blood, you become a were-tick: cursed to wander the streets of Philadelphia seeking the blood of other innocents!"
Now that's a scary story. But the scarier part is this: I swear...a few students believed it.
Another tale from my last period class. Things have deteriorated with that crowd. Before they were merely disrespectful. Now they're downright intransigent. So, I decided to fight fire with fire, as it were. If they refuse to quiet down and be good students, I decided I was not going to waste my time trying to deliver complicated lessons. So for the past few days, they have been copying notes off the overhead and doing other busy work. Unfortunately this has done less to break their spirits than one might expect because now they see it as an opportunity to do more work and raise their flagging grades. (Top average score right now is around a 70%.)
Anyhow, the students were working, copying notes on circuits and chatting about the latest exciting news from the realm of hip-hop music when suddenly one of the guys yells:
"TICK!!!!"
Immediately, the entire side of the room is in a panic. I don't think I've ever seen it quite as bad. Students got up on their chairs...some ran to the other side of the room. There was talk of Lyme disease being bandied about. Despite all the chatter, the arachnid itself remained elusive once the lights had been turned on. I attempted to convince the students rationally that there was nothing to fear, but as is so often the case at Underwood my arguments were like tennis balls against a brick wall; nothing stuck.
I then moved toward the argumentative, asking why my students, who are normally so declare how tough they are, were so scared of a little insignificant tick? Tales of Lyme disease popped up again. One student said ticks were worse than mice because at least mice would get scared and run away upon confrontation. Another then commented that you could not crush a tick. They were indestructible! (IN-DE-STRUCT-ABLE!)
"Is that true, Mr. _______?"
"Is it true? You can't crush a tick!"
"Ticks can only be killed by fire!"
And so forth.
Finally, exasperated, I told them the truth:
"You know what, kids? You're right. Ticks are indestructible. In the entire history of human civilization, not one person has ever successfully crushed a tick to death. They are immortal. And the worse part is that if a tick bites you and sucks your blood, you become a were-tick: cursed to wander the streets of Philadelphia seeking the blood of other innocents!"
Now that's a scary story. But the scarier part is this: I swear...a few students believed it.
