Today, in science, we covered cycles of nature (i.e. the water cycle, the carbon cycle, and the nitrogen cycle). I began the day with several short statements:
The water you drank today is the same water that dinosaurs drank.
The water you drank today is the same water that little Jacob peed in while swimming several years ago.
The mushrooms that were on your pizza this week were grown using horse poop.
Recycling is alive and well in nature!
If you ever want to get a set of 25 sixth graders, just mention the word "poop." From that point on they will be tuned in for the entire period.
Discussing the nitrogen cycle, the discussion of poop came up quite a bit. It was present in our textbook, and it was all over the BrainPop video. Surprisingly, my students understood the basics of the the nitrogen cycle. It is not an easy concept for middle schoolers to understand. It is one of those very abstract concepts that they cannot physically see happening. As a teacher, I resort to the most disgusting examples I can think of in the hopes that the students will remember them. Trust me, discussing poop is one of those examples that students will not forget. They certainly went home and told their parents about the poop discussion.
When I said earlier that in order to get 6th graders to remember the nitrogen cycle, it sometimes means that I have to take it all to extremes. I told my students to think of the nitrogen cycle as a giant tree threatening you with a lightning bolt (keeping the guns out of the discussion, I chose to use the lightning bolt) saying "Poop or Die...Your Choice!" Hopefully this will help my students to remember that plants get nitrogen through organic residue (poop), decaying matter, or through lighting causing nitrogen fixation.
To make a long story short...my entire day was spent talking about POOP!
Oye! What kind of life do I lead? LOL!
Yes it's amazing how universal 'pooping' is.
ReplyDeleteDid you know that if you start talking to anyone about owning a boat (yaght /cruiser / narrowboat etc.) then sooner or later the subject of toilets will, er, come up.
When we were in what you'd call 9th grade, I suppose, it was sex which got our rapt attention. Horses for courses I suppose.
Thanks for sharing - most entertaining!