Oops I did it again...

...got lost in the game.  Oh baby, baby

(Did I mention I love book paper?)

Ahhh.... 8th graders.....

While stuck grading research papers this Friday the 13th, I was unusually surprised when I found out that a number of my student's projects on the Revolutionary War were plagiarized.  Many of these are really good students too.  Anyway, it is definitely a dead-giveaway when a thirteen year-old uses words like "sovereign," "whilst," or "associates." I find it particularly entertaining when they even have the guts to come up to me and act like they are so confused about why I gave them a zero.  Yeah, yeah, yeah... I'm a jerk. 

But enough with all this negative stuff, there was some essays that were original and I found rather funny.  One of the assignments I had these kids do was to write a letter pretending they were a soldier in Valley Forge.  They had to include their living conditions as well as their feelings about being an American soldier.  Most students wrote about being starved, cold, and needing supplies but I found one of the students' letters particularly interesting.  So for your viewing pleasure here is a wonderful sample of the letter.... 

"Der mom

I've been having some trouble with my gun.  Yesterday it backfired and I got a broken head.  I feel discouraged and sad.  I need to know how to mend it and have to fix my gun, so will you help me?

The other day when I was firing at the British, I felt sick because I had exposed some of my head to the snow and had a brain freeze.  I have tried to get a bigger coat, but that didn't work.  But I feel proud to be an American.  I feel that I've worked to hard to die.  Some times before going to sleep I would sing the national anthem to feel comforted, but then I saw a British solder and just shot him through the hole in the tent.  Later in the morning I realized that it was one of our soders dressed up in a British uniform.  He was supposed to be a spy for us  but, someone shot him during the night.  I feel sad for the solder.

Sincerely, Grant*"

*Name has been changed

(Spelling has not been changed from its original format)

nothing

Not much has happened to us lately. Our schedule only consists of eating, sleeping, and doing homework so there is nothing cool to write about.

This is a leaf print on the sidewalk.  I took this picture in Nov. yeah, exciting I know.

 

Well I guess I do have a story to tell, it's another student teaching story.  Since I have already been through middle and high school I have learned all of those dumb middle/high school comebacks and jokes.  These kids are just starting their journey as a teenagers and haven't heard half of those jokes yet.  So one day I overheard a boy teasing a girl telling her that she was weird. I replied by informing him that whenever you point your fingers at someone you actually have three pointing back at you.  Even since then kids have come up to me and told me "Mrs. Willey, you are sooo good at comebacks!"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

uhhh.... sure....