A Rare Gem Discovery & An Interesting Take on Cardboard

Well, it's been a busy week, so I haven't had the opportunity to share as much as I would like, but after today's events, I felt compelled to share the wisdom of my lovelies!

I'll begin with a rare discovery on the good 'ole school playground. It is quite common for kids to find "amazing, beautiful, and cool" rocks on the playground, and today was no exception. One of my students approaches me with so much enthusiasm as she displays her numerous discoveries. While explaining each one to me, she proceeds to hold up this one "special" rock, and states, "Ms.Holloman, I think this is a rare one!" It was at this precise moment that I was left with a rather troubling dilemma. . . I could let her continue thinking she had made an amazing discovery and risk bloodshed later, or I could burst her precious bubble. I decided to put safety first, and unfortunately had to declare, "Why yes, that does look like a rare piece of bottle glass, and I think it should probably find its way to the garbage." She complied.

Now, the second story of today wins "story of the week" by a long shot. You must have a bit of background in order to understand the humor in this moment. Today students had to turn in and present "bookshare" projects in which they are assigned a genre every 4-6 weeks (all dates given the first week of school), and then they must read a book, summarize it, and present a creative product to demonstrate their understanding. Today's projected was an extended one due to our December-January track-out, as well as multiple snow days. Students had approximately 9 weeks to complete this project. That brings me to this past Tuesday when it was brought to my attention that a particular student had yet to begin the project. I was prepared to witness a "rushed" project presentation, but what follows was much more clever than I ever anticipated. That brings me to the presentation. In preparation for the presentation, the student places a large piece of plain cardboard on the presentation table. The student begins to then describe how "I left it blank because the setting of my story is in the desert, and the desert is mainly sand and mud with nothing in it, just like the cardboard is empty, so is the desert. You know, like brown, reddish mud, so that is why I left it plain." I couldn't help but laugh at how clever the attempt was to explain procrastination. I know some college students that could use some help with this!

Until next week. . .