Friday, October 22, 2010
On the cover of my friend's binder is a family tree. This is no ordinary family tree. She is at the top of the tree and five branches come down from her. One of her daughters, according to the family tree, has five wives. Yes, wives. And she's not the only one. Polygamy, gay marriage, missing fathers, adopted kids, and transgenders are all on are tree. 'The Family' as members call it, is constantly growing. It is interesting that, in a setting that is one of the most unforgiving places in our society, this imaginary family is so incredibly creative. As for me, I'm the family elf.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
One Month Into the School Year
Interims are already about to come out. However, in other ways, the school barely seems to be in session. We still haven't had our first PACE class; an International Baccalaureate Program introduction/remediation time period that we were supposed to have beginning with the first week of school. For the most part, I like my classes and my teachers. But I'm a whole lot more forgiving than most of my classmates.
Science
My teacher is a soft-spoken woman from the Dominican Republic. This year we are studying introductory chemistry and introductory physics. Part of science class every year is the science fair. For over a year, many of the science teachers have been vying for virtual science boards and this year they have finally succeeded.
P.E.
This is the only class that I know I'm going to have a field trip for. In fact, we will have at least three field trips. I know, kind of strange, right? Field trips for P.E.? Hey! I'll take it.
Geometry
I am in the a class known to my peers as 'Super-TAG'. This means I am taking math two years above my grade level. As you can imagine, there is a relatively small group of people who take this class. In 6th grade, we were all in the same math class and became good friends. Last year, with the splitting of the schools, no one saw each other. This year, we are all back together again because they decided it didn't make sense to have two geometry classes. So, it's a little awkward, catching up on everything that went on in the past year, but almost everyone is very happy. It's kind of like a family reunion.
Language Arts
This curriculum was completely redone over the summer, apparently. Currently, we are reading Lord of the Flies, which every eighth grader has read for, probably, ever. Now, instead of having 'over-arcing themes', we have 'essential questions' and 'learning communities'.
Social Studies
My social studies teacher has a voice that drones like the buzzing of a fly, and lures you to sleep. He is a former cop who is easily distracted into telling 'cop stories' and having long discussions about things completely unrelated to civics. As for the actual curriculum, he shies away from anything even touching on controversy. I think I scare him. I brought up Sharia Law on the first day of class.
Engineering Technology/Woodworking/Nobody Even Knows
I signed up for Engineering Technonogy. Not Woodworking. But one of the engineering technology/woodworking was either fired or 'asked to leave' last year, so now we have one part-time teacher who is supposedly creating the curriculum for my combined class engineering technology/woodworking. (How those were thought of as the same thing, I have no clue.) But he isn't even teh one teaching us. We have a substitute who will be here for the first quarter only. Then, we will get another substitute. I really like the substitute but I spent the first two weeks learning how to measure an inch. However, maybe that was needed because it was truly impressive how many of the kids couldn't name the 1/2 inch marker and started measuring on the 1''.
German
Deutschklasse ist echt toll!!! German is really fun. This is my third combined class; the two 8th grade German classes have been condensed into one, so I get to see a lot of my friends. I also really like my teacher.
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Monday, June 21, 2010
Tomorrow is officially the last day of school before summer vacation. There is no real point in going. They actually made an announcement at the end of the day telling students that they were not to bring their backpacks to school. But it's still worth it. Tomorrow there will be finality in the air, the last hugs before summer, the year-book signings. You miss that if you don't show up.
On Friday, all of the 7th graders at my school unloaded out front waiting for three charter buses to come and take us to The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. The first two buses came fifteen minutes late, the third bus came an hour and a half late. The driver was a short guy with wild white hair and a classic hat. We wondered how he managed to become a driver after he ran over several curves and kept crossing the highway lines.
We watched Avatar on the little screens above our heads. Or should I say half-watched. We also talked, texted, listened to i-pods and photographed everything on tiny cell phone cameras.
Almost three hours later we all piled out in front of the museum. It is an incredibly well thought out and fun place. We walked through a giant diorama of a heart and looked at the sun through a telescope as tall as myself. We managed to make our way through all four floors by the time the buses pulled up outside. We discovered, as we got on the bus, that the toilet had backed up. The smell stuck all the way home. We arrived back an hour and a half later than expected. In middle school, nothing runs on time. Come to think of it; what ever runs on time? Overall, however, it was quite a fun experience. Even if we hadn't made it to the museum, the bus rides with the rough-housing, prank texts (we got my friend good) and running over curves would be just as memorable.
We watched Avatar on the little screens above our heads. Or should I say half-watched. We also talked, texted, listened to i-pods and photographed everything on tiny cell phone cameras.
Almost three hours later we all piled out in front of the museum. It is an incredibly well thought out and fun place. We walked through a giant diorama of a heart and looked at the sun through a telescope as tall as myself. We managed to make our way through all four floors by the time the buses pulled up outside. We discovered, as we got on the bus, that the toilet had backed up. The smell stuck all the way home. We arrived back an hour and a half later than expected. In middle school, nothing runs on time. Come to think of it; what ever runs on time? Overall, however, it was quite a fun experience. Even if we hadn't made it to the museum, the bus rides with the rough-housing, prank texts (we got my friend good) and running over curves would be just as memorable.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
I might as well have not gone to school on Thursday. I had a doctor's appointment, so I missed the first hour-and-a-half of the school day, so I missed drama; the only class I would've done anything in all day. After first period, we were supposed to go to 8th period (the schedule has been completely messed with because of SOL testing). So, I went to 8th period. I had forgotten 8th period was the testing period for Math 7 and pre-algebra. But not for algebra.
There are nine 7th graders in Algebra. We were told to go to our math class. There was a substitute teacher there, but no lesson plans, nothing. We talked, played cards, made snow-cones, talked some more... Finally, we moved to our next class. Gym. There weren't enough kids finished testing to dress out, so we sat in the bleachers and talked some more. We had lunch. Then we went to PACE, a forty-five minute period where we are technically supposed to be reading, but no one does. We talked some more.
Finally, we got to the last period of the day. Math. We thought we would do a practice SOL or math review. It turns out, the 8th graders had an SOL. Our class is comprised of nine 7th graders (including me) and sixteen 8th graders. Technically, our teacher is an 8th grade teacher, so she had to take the 8th graders up to the third floor to be their test monitor. That left us 7th graders for another two-and-a-half hours to kill off. Only, this time, we didn't have a substitute teacher so a hall monitor stood just outside our classroom all period. How did we kill off the time? We talked, played cards, drew on the whiteboard, talked some more...
There are nine 7th graders in Algebra. We were told to go to our math class. There was a substitute teacher there, but no lesson plans, nothing. We talked, played cards, made snow-cones, talked some more... Finally, we moved to our next class. Gym. There weren't enough kids finished testing to dress out, so we sat in the bleachers and talked some more. We had lunch. Then we went to PACE, a forty-five minute period where we are technically supposed to be reading, but no one does. We talked some more.
Finally, we got to the last period of the day. Math. We thought we would do a practice SOL or math review. It turns out, the 8th graders had an SOL. Our class is comprised of nine 7th graders (including me) and sixteen 8th graders. Technically, our teacher is an 8th grade teacher, so she had to take the 8th graders up to the third floor to be their test monitor. That left us 7th graders for another two-and-a-half hours to kill off. Only, this time, we didn't have a substitute teacher so a hall monitor stood just outside our classroom all period. How did we kill off the time? We talked, played cards, drew on the whiteboard, talked some more...
What I Learned on Thursday
-The latest gossip
-How to work a snow-cone machine
-As much as administrators like to lecture about time;
It's not about the amount of time you have, but how you use it.
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