Gallus domesticus-asaurus?

I had to get this one up as quick as possible.

From my dept head (courtesy of Twitter):

Just got asked by a gr 12 student if the chicken skeleton in my lab was a dinosaur. A DINOSAUR.

I love my job.

That's what you call hitting the nail on the head...

So remember that kid in my class who lies... a lot? Well, surprisingly, he makes quite a bit of enemies mainly due to the fact that he doesn't shut his mouth. Ever. And he is just angry at everyone.

Big mouth: "I wonder what I could have done to piss off so many people?"
BM's lab partner: "I could think of a few things."

I had to try really hard not to laugh at that deadpan response.

Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra

More from the weird kid!

He was talking to some of his classmates about gay marriage.

Weird kid: "I believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman"

*The other kids must have responded with some degree of shock and disbelief to this based on the WK's response...but I couldn't hear them*

WK: "What? Just because I watch Star Trek doesn't mean I'm open minded."

I'm curious as to his views regarding Jadzia Dax and his/her sexual relations.

Budget Issues

Due to many factors this year, our school is running out of coverages. Teachers are allocated so many times that they can 'cover' a teacher who is absent per school year. This has been set in the Collective Agreement between our union and the school board. At any rate, the number of coverages available for admin to assign is slowly dwindling (I have four to go before I'm maxed out and there is still roughly 6 - 7 weeks left of school). Also, our school's supply budget is apparently quite low.

Why am I mentioning all of this? Because of all of this, our admin has decided to ISU pretty much every grade 12 university prep class. I remember when I was in high school I was psyched when I got an ISU. It was the best. However, there is just way too many right now. I had one student say this to me:

ISU's are great...until you have way too many of them.

You know there are too many ISUs when the STUDENTS start complaining about them.

Weirdest Kid Ever

There is this grade 9 student in my colleague's period 4 class that is just strange. Everything about the kid is weird. Here is one small reason why:

Student: "Sir, do know what I'm having for dinner tonight?"
Teacher: "Uhhhh....no."
Student: "I hope I'm having chicken. It's delicious!"

Wow.

Fashion over Function

Yesterday was our first of two Orienteering meets! Orienteering is bascially cross country with a scavenger hunt component to it. Participants have to find certain number of 'controls' in order while completing the course as quickly as possible.

This year the course was much more difficult mostly because of some of the control placements. There was at least one or two that were located by raspberry bushes (read: thorns). Most of my students came by torn up and bleeding.

I overheard the coach of another school talking to one of his senior females about the race...

Teacher: "Good job!"
Student: "Thanks, sir. I'm bleeding!" (her calves were torn to hell by the raspberry thorns and she was wearing 3/4 length tights, fyi)

Teacher: "That's why I told you yesterday to wear long pants."
Student: "Yeah. I know. But these are so cute!"

It's hard to argue with logic like that.

Not sure John Hughes would approve...

Our school has an In-School Suspension Room. It is a place where students who consistently break the rules go to quietly think about their actions and get caught up on work they have missed due to these poor decisions. They are not supposed to talk or leave the classroom for any reason. Their lunch is at a different time from the rest of the student population so that they have minimal interactions with their friends. Needless to say, the clientelle in this room on any given ISSR day (the room is 'in action' fairly infrequently) are, generally, not the cream of the crop of our student population.

One of my colleagues was discussing this room with some of his grade 12 students who just couldn't understand how someone could end up in this situation. However, I think they summed up the ISSR population very well with this statement:

"It's like the Breakfast Club...with assholes."