Honestly, I had forgotten that it was Friday the 13th for the better part of the day. I can't say that I actually fear the day, but just like a full moon, this day seems to have an adverse effect on teenagers ability to control themselves. Some of the choices made as the day progressed seemed to be abnormally strange which quickly reminded me of this special day on the calendar. All of which was complicated by the fact that our phone system seemed to develop a ghost in the machine and calls were being dropped left and right and we still use land-lines! To that end, I apologize for any frustration that might have been created for you if you had to make multiple attempts to get a call through today. Thankfully, the phone company did not simply chalk it up to Friday the 13th and attempted to address the issues. We shall see...
The rest of the week was relatively normal on the ever shifting scale of middle school dynamics.
I was able to visit a number of math classes and was happy to hear students in each grade communicating with each other about the problems they were trying to solve and often testing multiple strategies to determine which was most efficient. Some of our social studies students in 8th grade were actively investigating the spread of the Bubonic plaque...well, they were participating in an activity that simulated how the epidemic impacted families all over Europe...which doesn't sound much better when you type it out...but it was safe and no one actually got sick. But rather than simply reading about it, they were physically traveling from multiple locations carrying pieces of paper that determined whether or not they were infected. Many of our 7th grade students were exploring the sea floor and collaborating on the development of models that exhibited how the sea floor spreads.
As always...have a great weekend,
Chris
