New Year's Resolution

I know. I say it every time I post. "I'm going to get better about posting!" This time I'm really going to try. I just got lost in some blog posts from my first year of teaching, and, well, they were funny. And I miss being able to go back and remember what has happened at school this past year. Plus, some of this stuff the kids say....really needs to be written down. For posterity. Just sayin'.

I've started posting some one liners on Facebook, but then they get lost in the abyss that is Facebook's record of my life over the past six or seven years (that creeps me out a little bit...and then it makes me remember back in the day when Facebook didn't even have the "update your status" option! What the heck did I use it for back then? Just creeping on people? Weird...)

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Kids are funny!

In chemistry class, as we're reviewing some vocabulary from the periodic table chapter....

Me: What is a "period"?

Student: It's when your mom gets mad at you for no good reason!

During evening study a week or two ago, one of the 9th grade boys was in the computer lab where I was the proctor...

Boy: Don't worry Miss Book, I'll marry you. (apparently I looked concerned?) How old are you, 27?

me: 28.

Boy: I'm 14. But I'll be legal in four years.

me: I'm 14 years old than you. Technically, I could be your mother.

boy: So when I'm 18, you'll be 32. And then when I'm 30, you'll be...what? 38?

me: No, I'll be 44.

boy: oh.

[silence]

boy: How do you feel about getting bit by a vampire?

Spelling...

<p>I understand not being a good speller, I really do, but things like this always blow my mind...this one from one of my advisees, a ninth grader:</p>
<p>What do you wish you had done differently this past term? <br>
''I also wish that I wasn't such a porcesentater.''

Woohoo!

I am so proud of myself for figuring out how to make all of my random google accounts hold hands, so now I can blog from my phone! Hopefully this will mean more updates. Like this from senior seminar today--

Me- what do you guys know about marcellus shale?
Student- marcella who?

a few updates

John was looking for estate sales today online...
Mr John: Where's Jefferson Hills?
Mr DeBor: I don't know.
Mr John (to students standing in the office): Do you know where Jefferson Hills is?
students: Ummm...well, he's not in our class...


So I'm teaching all of the 8th-10th graders at Summer Academy PLUS the seniors for environmental science senior seminar. Yeah, it's a good time...I just have to keep telling myself that I can do anything for five weeks! (actually I have the seniors for two hours a day for four weeks...and not on Fridays...so it's not quite as bad as it sounds)

Anyway, it's been fun to talk about some of these environmental science ideas with them...things they've never thought of, like how decisions that we make in the US can affect the rest of the world and how everything is connected. So we talked about population growth today and the consequences of having an increasing population in the US and in the world in general.

student: Then all these immigrants have to come in, and then they start having babies! Oh. Wait. I need to stop talking. That's my mom.
(her mom's from Jamaica)

Also, her first suggestion for how to slow population growth was to tell people to stop having sex. Right. I see no reason this could not be legislated tomorrow.



And finally, I'll just share something that I was excited about that happened in environmental science this past week. We had just finished watching Planet in Peril, which ends with a short segment that discussing what they call "environmental racism," meaning that environmental issues affect non-whites disproportionately (like how landfills or pollution producing industrial plants are more likely to be built near an African American or Latino neighborhood). When I asked them what they thought about that idea, one of them was quick to speak up to say that he disagreed. "It's not racism! They aren't building the plants there because they're black, they're building them there because they're poor and can't do anything about it--it doesn't have anything to do with their skin color, they're just saying that because it's more common for black neighborhoods to be poor."
The kid definitely had a point.

Introducing...

Yay! Time for my favorite post of the year! :)
Meet the new kids! As a reminder, here's the intro I've given for the past three years...
These are excerpts from an informal writing assignment they had, it was an "About Me" essay and I gave them a bunch of questions that they could answer if they wanted to, or they could just write about themselves without answering the questions (things like: what do you value? what are your goals? what are your talents? etc.) Barring a few small edits, I kept most of the spelling/grammar as it was given. I pulled a comment from each essay, sometimes more than one...so here they are...funny, sweet, heartbreaking and insightful as ever...


My plans for the future are to be in the NbA, go into the marines, and get my master from collage.

I once had a twin sister but she died when we where 3 years old due to a whole in her heart.

I am African American, Puerto Rican, white and Indian, my father is African American/Puerto Rican and my dad's dad is Puerto Rican and my great great grandmother is Indian and my great 3x grandmother is white.

I was born October 21, 1997, which means I'm a Libra! Yay!

I believe that everything you want to do can be done through hard work, and dedication.

Also when I grow up I will have arranged marriage.

If I were to pick a hobby it would be reading I love to read and listen to music.

Something I am looking forward to is being a better, more responsible teenager and learning the values of life.

I hope to one day be an engineer like my mom.

I also don't like babies, cats, and a majority of old people.

My background is the racially confused mixed girl who went to an all Asian school.

I was adopted at age 3 and I moved 11 times.

I love science, also I am intreasted in chemicals.

I have no talent beside being natraly funny.

After college I should be around the age of 26 so for like 2-4 years I will take time off of work and school, and I will go out with my friends to parties and different clubs.

My favorite hobbie is to party with friends on my spare time.

I believe in what other people don't: love, happieness and magic.

A major event in my life that affected me was losing my father.

I cannot stand people with smart mouths, and I also cannot stand wearing itchy stockings/tights.

I have the typical annoying little sister that I still and always will love.

When I get older I would like to become a pediatrician, because i would like to be that person that would be able to help a child in need.

I believe that hard work pays off sometime in life.

When I grow up I would like to be a proffesional rapper.

This school will also help make me a better gentleman.

I love doing experiments.

I hope this year is good, and fun.

I run fast and I like to draw....Nobody really enspired me to draw. I usually just draw what I feel.

My plans for the future are to be a sound engineer, and to collect cars.

I am really talented at football, and I am very interested in playing football, and I am interesed in math.

I have one sister and three brothers. Two of which are my uncles, the other two are adopted.

I don't have a hobby, unless miming is a hobby.

I'm known as a very cool person and when I say cool I mean fun to be with and chilled and layed back.

When I was 9 years I was taken away from my aunt and was put in "cyf", that event effected my life drastically.

I am just a regular girl with dreams like everyone else.

Some of my special talents are that I am good at any sport I play, I can sing, and I know how to give good advice when someone needs or asks for it.

I like to laugh at jokes, and I can't stand being interupted if im talking or someone else is. and most of the time I don't talk.

Almost everyday you'll see a smile on my face.

I want to become a state trooper to help protect and serve my community. I want to set an example for my little brother and sister that their is way more to life than just living off of welfare with just a job.

I'm Christian and I love God, I read the Bible every morning.

I enjoy making others smile and giving to people who don't have.

It just bothers me with someone descriminates against someone else for things that are unchangeable.

When I get older I expect to be a very successful artist.

I've been homeschooled for most of my life, I did attend Kindergarten, but that was only for a short while.

I am not looking forward to wearing uniforms all year.

I value hard work and reward, family, friends and good teachers.

I started track when I was eight years old and when I was thirteen I ran a WPIAL qualifying time in the 100 meter dash but I was too young to actually go.

I want to become a Pharmacist and Real Estate Agent, they seem like interesting careers. I would buy a house from myself and make my own medicine instead of going to the doctors.

I love to dance and be goofy.

You should know I'm an outgoing, nice, happy, safisticated young lady but still have my off days.

I like to cook, but I only know how to cook certain foods such as; pancakes, bacon, eggs, noodles, toast, chicken, macaroni, and micorwavable everything.

An event in my life that affected me was losing my granddad at an early age becasue now my mom tells me how much he adored me and wanted me to be around him, making me think maybe I would have turn out to be a different person than I am today.

You should know that i study hard and allways try my best but sometimes I struggle.

This school could change my life. That's why I'm here before you.

Good news!

Emails like this are the reason I love my students. :)


The subject line of this one was "Good News"....

Dear Ms. Book,

my homework for tommorow is crumbled up, but i still got it done!

p.s. i didnt crumble it up :)

Black and white

Every once in awhile something happens that I feel like I have to blog about immediately. This is one of those times. I'm sitting in the back of the 10th grade biology class while they talk about genetics, which makes for a lot of interesting conversations. Long story short, I ended up googling something they were talking about and finding something unrelated but nonetheless interesting...fraternal twins--one black and one white...
http://www.snopes.com/photos/people/mixedtwins.asp

I knew they'd think it was really cool, so when there was a lull in the conversation I showed them the pictures. After gathering around my desk and exclaiming over the idea of black and white twins, they returned to their seats...except for one girl who hung back a little bit and whispered to me, "so, Miss Book, is that white baby gonna, like, talk white when she grows up?"