...galaxy...

Do you like my nail polish?  It looks like a GALAXY!

(she says as she shoves her hand, that looks a little something like this, onto my desk)

...personality styles...

I teach a unit on learning & personality styles.

I give my students an abbreviated version of the Myers Briggs Personality Inventory.  (I pretty well-known personality test, for those that have never heard of it.)  The results are identified by four different letters, leading to 16 possible outcomes.

On the assessment for this unit, I include an essay question.  This basically involves the students explaining their personality style.

Here is the beginning portion of my favorite answer:

My personality style is INFJ.  My personality style is basically exactly like my real personality.  I am quiet and loyal, just like a Hufflepuff.

Isn't it good to know the results were so accurate?  I mean, it's basically her real personality!  Phew!

If you don't know what a Hufflepuff is...well, it's one of the houses (or dormitories) from the Harry Potter series.  If you have read/watched the series, you will understand how she quickly identified herself...she didn't even need a sorting hat!

...sentences...

It's time for vocabulary sentences again.

Here is a sampling you might like...it reminds me of a You Tube video you may have seen...

Bonquesah made Stankesha cry because her words were very trenchant.

Needtoshutupesha saw her name on the roster for most outspoken.

Uglesha impeded our conversation.

"You need to forbear from talking too much," said Hotbreathesha.

Getintroubletoomuchesha tried to evade getting caught.

Beedeebeedesha was ripped asunder from her comb.

...pitfalls...

We are discussing personality styles.  Today students were reading over full-page descriptions of their personality styles based on the Myers Briggs test.  The page was broken up into various sections.  One of these sections was titled Potential Pitfalls.

So, I asked:  What does potential mean?

Student 1:  When you have the ability to do something, but you don't actually do it.

I had to clean up some slightly misinterpreted parent/teacher conference lingo for them...

Then I asked:  What does pitfall mean?  Well, besides an old Atari game?

Student 2:  It's a fall you pit into!

Close.  So close.

...punctuation...

I was teaching a group of Juniors about some punctuation rules in preparation for the ACT English test.  It went a little something like this:

Me:  Who can tell me what a colon is?  And don't tell me about your body...

Students give a little chuckle.

Student 1:  I hate when people spell cologne like colon.

Me:  Yeah, that is unfortunate.

Student 2:  I know how to spell cologne!  (He did not say the letters, but changed the pronunciation.)  CO-LOG-NE!

Me:  Good...

Student 1:  Yeah, like I hate it when people say things like, Your colon smells really nice today!

...hayride...

Sample vocabulary sentence:  Jim looked very incongruous wearing a tuxedo on the hayride.

My question:  What do people usually wear on a hayride?

Student:  A farmer suit.

...performance...

I usually play music during class.

The other day my students were quietly working on a timed test.

As the chorus of the song came on, all of a sudden we had a little impromptu choir.  Several students in my class of 30 started singing along as they speedily answered the problems before them.  The other staff member in the room & I both had grins of surprise on our faces.

I tried to get the students to quiet down so they wouldn't be a distraction to others, but it wasn't too simple.  So, I told them to be quiet & I had an idea I'd share once time was up.

The timer went off.

Ok, if you are really loud, I'll turn the volume up & open the door to the classroom next to us & you can serenade them.

The once full choir turned into a few brave (foolish?) souls, that ended up encouraging several students to join in this spontaneous plan.

I turned the volume up.  I started the song over.  We waited for the chorus.  They sang.  I opened the door...

A student from the other room quietly entered my classroom, cautiously assessing the situation.  No one really understanding what was happening, we soon had that entire class of sophomores slowly file into the room & stand in the front while these freshmen performed from their seats.

As the chorus ended, it became embarrassingly clear that my students didn't know the verses.  As they fumbled over the words, I apologized to our guests & assured them that next time we would practice.  They quietly walked back through the door & returned to their class.  The faces on many of these students communicated there confusion as to what just happened.  As the last student left, the one who had been the first to come to the concert, he turned to me and said, I don't even know why I came in here...and then everyone followed me...

I thought it was a little odd that the teacher never popped in or said anything.  Well, it turns out that he was around the corner working with a couple of other students at the time.  We found out after class that he didn't realize his students took a 45 second field trip.  Amazingly enough, none of his students mentioned it to him.

Maybe they were still trying to sort out what they had just experienced.