a whole day with the eighth grade...

I spent the entire day with the 8th grade today because of midyear exams. I have yet to grade theirs, but if the past two terms are any indication, I can expect that the girls' scores will average a full 10%+ above the boys. Three of the guys finished off last term by the skin of their teeth...69.5%, 69.9%, and 70.0% (below 70 is failing...we don't give D's. I round up.) If anyone can explain this strange gender phenomenon to me, please do. I am chalking it up to the fact that they are 8th grade boys and just don't want to do homework or study.

The eighth grade rooms smelled like something had died in the wall. The boys claimed that someone had just failed to flush the toilet on Friday. Whatever it was, it was bad. Let the fun begin.

"Your skirt is made of curtains, or a blanket, did you make it?"
"No."
"No, it looks like a rug...like a welcome mat, except you took the welcome off..."
Gee, thanks...

"Okay, let's review before your exam...what's an atom made of?"
"Protons!"
"Electrons!"
"Neutrons!"
"the nucleus!" (I've basically given up on making them raise their hands...)
"Okay, what's in the nucleus?"
"Protons! Neutrons!"
"And what are their charges?"
"protons are positive!"
"neutrons are negative!"
"no they aren't! electrons are negative, neutrons don't have a charge!"
"yeah, they're neutral!"
Boy with Girl's Name: "That's stupid, I think it makes more sense for the neutrons to be negative."
FS: "Nah, man! Who do you think you is, Dmitri Mendeleev?"
[link included for those of you whose science is a little rusty]

Probably not as funny to you as it was to me...but it cracked me up.

So there you are, and maybe you learned some science too...:)