i´m out here in the sand.

two interesting AND funny stories.

i am making a ´collection of gums´ as my students call it. i started it two days ago. if i catch a kid chewing gum in class, they have to put their piece of gum on this fluoroscent pink bristol board that says ´gum collection´. then i write their name next to their piece of gum. disGUSting!
i told the students that once they have 3 pieces of gum on the poster, they will get a consequence of the classes´ choosing. one kid suggested that they eat all the gum that is on the paper. rough!!! this has been going on for only a few classes, and already i have a collection of 20 chewed pieces. and now the kids are starting to make them into patterns when they are asked to put it on the piece of paper. it´s so sick, honestly. but my kids think it is so disgusting and funny, so i hope by the time someone gets to three pieces and has a gross consequence the gum chewing will stop.
anyway. it´s creative i guess. but gross.

i learned a new reading game called popcorn with my grade 10s yesterday. i gave them an interesting article on amphibians being good environmental indicators, read the first page aloud to catch their interest, and then left them to it. one student says to me ´no, ms erin, that is not how reading works. when your voice is tired, all you have to say is ´popcorn, someone else´and they will keep on reading´. ok. popcorn, juan fernando. and juan fernando reads two paragraphs and then repeats ´popcorn, miguel´. and the out-loud reading continues.
it is so funny that my 15 and 16 year old kids wanted to keep on reading aloud to each other. eventually i began to work on some other things, and the kids kept on reading with the occasional ´popcorn, juliana´. hilarious. and all on their own.
well trained. not by me that is for sure!

at the end of class, pedro says to me. ´hey, we were super cuisiosos today, huh?´. there is no good translation for the word cuisioso. it means on task and careful and responsible and diligent, pretty much.

and i said yes, you were.