More student response favs

You can't make this stuff up. The mix between student profundity and responses that make you chuckle is incredible. Below are some of my favorite responses gathered from 7th grade student surveys about their understanding of the Mass:

In response to "What does the word 'Amen' mean?" -->

• "You have finished praying"
• "I think it means 'ok' - a combination of thank you and ok"

In response to "Why do we genuflect when we enter the pew at Church?"

• "To show respect to God and to say hello"
• "To enter ourselves and start the mass, I am taking a guess, by the way, sorry I forgot."
• "We genuflect to show we are starting prayer and mass and we genuflectat the end to show mass is over."

I love my job.

Wednesday Wars FTW

Of all the kids in the seventh grade at Camillo Junior High, there was one kid that Mrs. Baker hated with heat whiter than the sun. Me.

Thus begins the roller coaster (emotions-wise) ride of a novel, The Wednesday Wars, by Gary D. Schmidt. Holling Hoodhood (no, that's not a typo) is the book's protagonist, living in the time of the Vietnam War (1967) in an upstate NY city divided (literally) with Jewish families to the north and Catholic families to the south.

The story line that weaves the book together is that on Wednesday afternoon the students who are Jewish go to prepare for their bar and bat mitzvahs, and the Catholic students go for Catechism. Well, poor Holling is a Presbyterian, so he's stuck behind as the only student in class each week on that day. For awhile Holling just does chores (like eraser clapping - ah, the good ol' days!) and such, but as the school year progresses (the book's "chapters" are the months of the year), his teacher, Mrs. Baker, gets him to read Shakespeare, and he even ends up as a fairy (yes, complete with yellow tights and feathers on his rear end) in a local Shakespearean production. Things come into play involving the NY Yankees, classroom pet rats, fresh cream puffs, the school's cross country team, and more. At some points of the novel, the reader is left nearly in stitches, yet in other parts the reader is left with a sinking feeling in the stomach (e.g. when Holling's father is out of touch (constantly) with his children).

I highly recommend this one, especially for middle school classrooms. It's definitely going on our read aloud list for the year. It was one of the best books I've read in awhile...(I even added it to my Book List 4 Life!)

Pi Day

Happy Pi (or in some cases, "pie") Day!

Here's some math humor to brighten your day and get in the love of math spirit:

http://www.cafepress.com/notsohumblepi

(I'll admit, it's been a long time since I've needed to calculate math using some of these formulas and such, so I don't quite understand all of the humor. Nevertheless, the ones I do understand are hilarious.)

This one is my favorite (probably because it deals with the Ides of March):

We Three Kings/Magi/Wise Men/...

Today the Church celebrates the story of the Epiphany (for today's Readings, click here)...and you gotta love the three kings.

Another name for the three kings was "magi" or "wiseman." And I think my favorite encounter with someone else's understanding of this term was right before Christmas break, when, while my half of the class was doing The Gift of the Magi for Readers' Theater, a number of the students piped up and asked, "What's a magi?" After I explained about the multiple names, one of the girls chimed in, asking, "Ms. Foyle, can I go by 'wise-woman' instead?" (Of course, I said yes.)

Personally, I like to mention the three kings during many car trips or when someone tells me about their travels. When anyone says something along the lines of "We'll go back a different/another way," I respond, "like the wise men."

(Corny, I know...At least I think I'm funny.)

For a real laugh (well, you've probably seen this before), check out this video that was made a year or so ago: The Digital Story of the Nativity. It reminds me of the three kings. And of Christmas.

I do apologize for my thoughts bouncing all over the place tonight - I think I'm a little jittery for school starting back tomorrow and a lot jittery for the National Championship game (GO IRISH!) tomorrow night...I even baked for the occasion (see evidence below):

We Are ND

Let's go Irish! Beat 'Bama!

This is Halloween

Sorry folks - the creative juices just ain't flowing this week.

But I do want to take a moment to wish you a Happy Halloween!

Oh, and I wanted to share this cartoon with you because it made me smile (and it reminds me that Thanksgiving break is only 3 weeks away):

Grandpa-isms...Sayings, Songs, Jokes, and More...

Undoubtedly these cannot all be attributed to my grandfather - I'm sure someone else made some of them up - but these are some of the words he said that I will always remember...and they are ones I wanted to share:

his favorite 'limerick' (I never had the heart to tell him it wasn't technically a limerick.): 
"There once was a girl from Boston, Mass. She stood in water up to her knees. It doesn't rhyme yet, but wait till the tide comes in."

words of wisdom: 
"Save your money, buy whiskey."

This one's a recent favorite - I never heard him utter it in person, but it was shared at his memorial - apparently it was directed at his friends: 
"If B.S. (bull s***) was an energy company, you two would be a couple of power plants."

upon leaving the table, 
"Meeting adjourned."

when taking a picture with my sister and me, 
"Ah, a rose between two thorns."

while holding the door, 
Age before beauty."

before heading out of town,
"Comes the dawn, we'll be gone." (Although, this is probably more accurately attributed to my grandmother.)

in order to ensure his order would be plain, the way he liked it:
"No garbage, and I'm allergic to pickle."

ideas about eating:
"If you eat one more piece of chicken, you're going to turn into a chicken."

when he wanted the rest of the house to wake up:
"Reveille! Reveille!" (while waving the coffee pot)


He rewrote the words to many songs that he constantly sang to himself around the house, and he usually could pull out a one-liner for any occasion - I wish I could remember all of them.

But this is a start of what I'd like to call my "grandpa-isms" - for it is impossible to think of these sayings without thinking also of him.

Such sillies...

Nothing beats a good chuckle to kick off the morning - especially when that chuckle is the result of one student's rather dramatic reenactment of a dream. Let me relay it to you (briefly) here:

Ms. Foyle, Ms. Foyle, I had this horrible dream last night!! I dreamed that you said you were leaving the school and not coming back until I was in high school. And then, your books were gone. And you were gone too. I was so scared!

I don't know what amused me more - that she was so dramatic about this dream or that she was more worried about my books being gone than me. (Although, that wouldn't be the first time a student expressed such a concern - those were the same sentiments from my students in Phoenix too...but they did admit that they would miss me after all.)

Mind you, this was the very same student who, while we were on our field trip to the Wizard of Oz play on Wednesday, said, "Take a picture of me on your phone. You can set it as your screensaver!" (Um, probably not a good idea...just saying...but it was funny nonetheless.)

Sometimes I wish I had a camera on these kiddos 24/7 (and then I think better of it) - they can be so unpredictable in funny, insightful, and downright unbelievable ways. At one moment I can be hitting my head with frustration and the next I can be doubled over in laughter. It's quite incredible, really. There is no way of knowing how the days will pan out. It's completely up to God (via the students). And that's one of the things that is just so crazy and engaging with teaching - being spontaneous in response to events, comments, and etc. in the classroom comes in the job description. And that helps make all the hard work worthwhile...