Diagramming Forces

One of the perks of being a middle school teacher is that 7th graders offer no end of humorous anecdotes. I don’t know what class they’re writing all the notes in because I’m not finding very many lately but I did discover a couple of girls playing M.A.S.H. in their science journals on Thursday when they were supposed to be making plans for our lab. Instead they were making plans for their futures. Which, according to M.A.S.H., will be marriage to Henry and driving a green pick-up truck.

Come on kids! Stay on task.

The lab investigation the rest of us were planning was pretty cool though. We built little fan powered cars and had some races. Mostly the cars crashed into each other but the builders of the winning car won a hundred grand candy bar. I did not win.

Then we got down to some science and calculated the cars' speed and acceleration and diagrammed the forces acting on them. Of course you can’t diagram the force of awesome but you can’t ignore it either when it’s running amuck and crashing into everything. Needless to say it was a logistics nightmare. But I tend to enjoy my job in spite of the crazy. Unhappily, there was far too much screaming and not all of it was from delight; getting your fingers caught in a fan car is not pleasant. Teaching middle school is not for the faint of heart…

Please recall this boring teacher training and the awesomeness that ensued. http://quoththewren.blogspot.com/2011/11/fan-car.html

One of my students was complaining the next day that I'd gotten into her head. Apparently she's starting to think about free body diagrams whenever she sees things moving. I make no apologies. Seeing the world through science can save your life.

I avoided killing a dear, myself and my friends because of free body diagrams.

I was driving the stretch of I-5 between Mount Vernon and Camano Island late at night and I saw a huge deer running straight at my car from the right, but due to my vigorous physics training I immediately saw the entire situation with force vectors and velocities. I instantly realized that if I moved one lane to the left and sped up, the deer would hit me instead of me hitting the deer. I was already moving before I fully realized that I was doing a science. Heh. And that deer SMACKED into my car. But so much better than if I had smacked into it. Physics is always the right answer kids.


Watch this to learn more about diagramming forces:

May the force be with you.

Star Gazing

Yesterday I pulled into the parking lot at school and looked up at the moon as I was sprinting into the building (because I was tardy) and stopped suddenly in delight because Jupiter was so bright and beautiful right next to the Moon. 

Since school was starting about 20 minutes later (I can't believe how tardy I was); I thought maybe there was a chance I could take my first period class on a field trip. Yes, a field trip STARGAZING! During school hours. And really, I knew this was my last chance because daylight savings ends this weekend. So it was a race against the sun and the ever cloudy skies over the fair city of Seattle. 

I didn't take this picture, but someone in India did a few hours later and posted it on one of my favorite Astronomy websites. Yeah, I have a favorite Astronomy website, quit acting so surprised. This is pretty much what I saw and what inspired the field trip plans:

And another one UP CLOSE:

So I grabbed the 7th graders in my first period class and we ran out to the soccer field the second after the bell rang and the heavens smiled on us. Most of us anyway. The kids with glasses probably didn't see much because the sky was getting pretty light. Poor blind kids. But the annoying cloud cover was gone and the skies were clear.

Extra bonus, Venus was trying to outshine Jupiter in the East. 

The kids were amazed by both and even more amazed that they were looking at planets, not stars. 

But when some of the kids started running around with the soccer cones on their heads I herded those cats back into the school.

Crack-O-Lantern

It's the end of the quarter and grades are due and so are all my students' projects, which means one thing: grading! Which is not my favorite thing. My favorite thing is procrastinating.

Also, it's Halloween and no one should have to work on a holiday, right? Which is why I’m doing Crack-os instead.

 10-3+1=20-12 

 We can call it a special edition crack-o-lantern!

Existentialism Leads to Extinction

Something to enjoy. A pumpkin comes into existence only to find loneliness. In an effort to make a new friend he creates a nightmare. A scary story just in time for Halloween. (Repost from October 2008)

An Apology and A Gift Card

A confiscated note!

Dear [girl],
I am sorry that I wasn't there for you when I was your boyfriend. I hope your having fun with your new boy friend. He must be really nice. Here is a $15 best buy gift card you can use it to buy you a phone. The one right across the street from Northgate sells them for $9.09.
Hope your happy. Sorry for my mistakes.
Your friend, or non-friend
[boy]


I received some ardent apologies from a past relationship of my own this week. But no gift cards, so you have to wonder how heartfelt it really was. Just saying.

Is there anything more demoralizing for a 36 year old woman than when her love life echos the 8th graders...

Sigh.

The answer is yes.

This is more demoralizing: I have an deep, deep affection for Carley Rae Jensen's song "Call Me Maybe". Fact.

Earlier this week I was driving to work and my CD was skipping around (I ruin CDs; NEVER loan me one of yours) so I switched to radio power and had to pump it UP because Carley Rae's sweet, sweet vocals were on the airways.

The first time I endured this song I rolled my eyes a little more than I'm willing to admit now that I'm a mega fan. But soon after hearing it, America's darlings on the U.S. Olympic swim team made a video, I fell in love with it, and it all went downhill from there. Now I'm hooked. I love it so bad. I love it so, so bad.

Is there a more adorable girl on this planet than Missy Franklin [minute 1:36]? There really isn't.

Also this:

And finally this:

You're* welcome.


I promise I'm not an 8th grader contrary to all offered evidence.


*evidence that supports my claim of not being an 8th grader: I know the correct usage of your/you're.