In 2008 I spent a fantastically fun 8 weeks working as a residential summer camp counselor. The other counselors in my unit and myself worked primarily with youth going into grades 5 and 6. Over the course of those 8 weeks, we saw and heard these kids say some pretty ridiculous things. A fellow counselor recently reminded me of a quote book us counselors kept. Highlights include, “Look what I found in my butt!”
As I find myself spending a whole lot of time with 6th graders (duh), I’ve begun to realize this is less a campers-say-funny-things trend than a 12-year-olds-say-funny-things trend.
The other day we were working on a KWL chart as a class. We have done this many times, and the students are pretty familiar with the process: jotting down things we Know, Want to know, and eventually, what we Learned about a specific topic
“What does K stand for?” I asked everyone, feeling confident that they’d all yell out with the correct answer. Instead I get only a response from the principal’s son, “Kentucky!”
It is times like this where I just start laughing and lose any façade of authority I might have held. I don’t know how teachers take themselves seriously. Yes, K stands for Kentucky.
As I regained composure, I led the students through a preview of our next selection, How To Babysit an Orangutan. They were instructed to page through the story’s photographs, and with a little background knowledge, tell me what they knew about orangutans. Most of the responses fell along the lines of “They live in the rainforest,” “orangutans stay with their mom until 8,” “they climb in trees”. One exceptionally observant student raised his hand. “Yes, Taket?” “Their feet look like hands.” Yes, yes they do.
As I find myself spending a whole lot of time with 6th graders (duh), I’ve begun to realize this is less a campers-say-funny-things trend than a 12-year-olds-say-funny-things trend.
The other day we were working on a KWL chart as a class. We have done this many times, and the students are pretty familiar with the process: jotting down things we Know, Want to know, and eventually, what we Learned about a specific topic
“What does K stand for?” I asked everyone, feeling confident that they’d all yell out with the correct answer. Instead I get only a response from the principal’s son, “Kentucky!”
It is times like this where I just start laughing and lose any façade of authority I might have held. I don’t know how teachers take themselves seriously. Yes, K stands for Kentucky.
As I regained composure, I led the students through a preview of our next selection, How To Babysit an Orangutan. They were instructed to page through the story’s photographs, and with a little background knowledge, tell me what they knew about orangutans. Most of the responses fell along the lines of “They live in the rainforest,” “orangutans stay with their mom until 8,” “they climb in trees”. One exceptionally observant student raised his hand. “Yes, Taket?” “Their feet look like hands.” Yes, yes they do.