A fight nearly broke out in 2nd period today. In fact, it got so heated that an administrator had to come down the hall to make sure everything was ok. This fight of potentially epic proportions was about…
The volume of a sphere.
That’s right. My 8th graders started fighting about who could answer a problem correctly. I have never seen those kids work so hard and care so much about an answer. It all began with the formula for the volume of a sphere: it looks complicated, but it’s really simple. It’s just 4/3*pi*r^3. I broke it down, and most of them got it pretty quickly. I had them practice, and that’s when things started to get heated:
H and L (working together): Hey Miss, is this right?
Me: Well, you took the radius cubed–good. Times pi–ok. Times 4, and then divided by 3? Perfect!
[Time passes, and eventually AB gets to the same problem]
AB: Hey L, this is what you got for #3, right?
L: No, that’s wrong.
AB: What? No it’s not!
H: Yeah, that’s not what we got–and Ms G said we’re right
AB: Ok, I’ll try it again.
[AB tries again]
AB: I got the same thing! And I know I’m doing this right
H: Well, Ms G said we’re right
AB: Well, even Ms G makes mistakes sometimes
Me: That’s true, girls–I checked your process, not your arithmetic. I trust that y’all know how to multiply and divide.
AB: Ha! See?
L: No, we’re right. Try it again.
[AB goes to the board, to try it again in big purple marker]
AB: Look–this is right!
H: But it’s not what we got! Ms G said we were right!
L: Miss, will you work it out for us?
Me: Ok. [Now I go to the board to work it out...] This is the answer. I’m sure this is right.
AB: But!! No!
H: HA! We got it!
L: See, AB? Even you make mistakes sometimes.
AB: No way. Where did I go wrong? I’m doing this problem over until I get it right!
[H and L high-five and continue gloating. AB is indignant that she got an answer WRONG! The debate gets so loud and so heated that an AP shows up in my door]
AP: What on earth is going on here? I can hear you all the way down the hall in my office!!
We had nothing to say except a very sheepish “Sorry! We were working on a math problem…”
My other 8th grade class was equally hilarious, but considerably less invested. Towards the end of the period, a few guys who sit in the back (R, S, and D) had clearly given up getting their homework done before the weekend. They started discussing cartoon characters:
R: Miss, do you know Mario?
Me: Maybe–I know a lot of Marios. Which one?
R: The one that’s really fat and can jump really high.
Me: Well…I might know who you’re talking about. I’ve got a couple Marios in first period, and one in–
R: No! Not a student. He wears red all the time, and has a hat.
Me: OH–you mean the Nintendo Mario!
R: Yeah–him! How can he jump so high when he’s so fat?
Me: You know, I have no idea. I’ve never really thought about it.
S: And his hat! He jumps up and hits stuff and it always stays right there. It’s like it’s attached to his head or something.
D: And why doesn’t he ever change clothes? He’s always wearing the same thing!
R: What about Sonic the Hedgehog? He doesn’t even WEAR clothes!
Me: But when have you seen hedgehogs wear clothes?
D: He wears gloves and shoes, though. Why not clothes?
Me: Good point. But Donald Duck wears a shirt and no pants.
S: I know! And why not? And there’s that other Sonic character–he wears gloves and shoes and a BELT…but no pants.
R: Why wear a belt without pants?
D: I think Goofy is really the only civilized cartoon character. He’s got pants AND a shirt
Me: Well, what about Mickey? And Minnie? Don’t they wear clothes?
R: Nope, Mickey only wears pants–but no shirt. His chest is just hanging out all over the place!
Me: Good point…
S: Cartoons are really funny when you think about them. What about that Hey Arnold guy? What’s with the shape of his head?
D: Oh! And that dumb little hat he wears?
Me: And his hair is just sticking out all funny-like!
S: He’s totally weird.
R: Yeah, and what’s with Eggman? He’s got these big ole feet, skinny little legs, and a FAT body!
[And so on and so forth until the bell rang]
So THEN we get to 7th grade…where we learned about “Mental Percents”–that is, percents you do in your head. Some students decided that the notes would be titled “METAL Percents”–so…totally rockin’ percents with Ozzy? Or percents made of iron and tin? Or percents of metals in ores? I have no idea.
I also have this gaggle of girls that really like me. They hang out with me while I’m doing morning duty (ie, watching kids walk from the bus into the school), and they will talk and talk and talk and talk until it’s time to go. It’s mostly cute, until I have to try to get THEM into the school–they never want to go. Most of them are in my 6th period class (my last class of the day), and they sometimes stay to help me clean up. Today, they started ARGUING over who would get to erase my board. And they race to pick up my trash. (I think it’s because I sometimes give them candy for doing so…)
For the record, though: My board is now totally spotless and there is NO trash on my floor. My custodian will love me.
