Classroom Projects Plummet

Shark Week in the Mosiman classroom has been terrifying. Making to-size construction paper sharks and then hanging them for student presentations isn't as easy as one would imagine.  Sydney and I suffered paper cuts, vertigo and an acute case of "Why are we doing this? This is the stupidest thing ever!" syndrome (It wasn't even close, by the way).  Most of my creative projects end up this way.  In developing a project for my statistics and probabilites unit, I quickly became bored thinking about the rationale of collecting rainfall data for the month of May.  What if each student decorated his or her own rain gauge for at-home use?  How exciting!  I enthusiastically went to work.  I finally reached "Why am I doing this? This is the stupidest thing ever!" level when I found myself shoulders-deep in my deposit-able cans bin, digging out fifteen clear containers.  I sat in my yard, methodically ripping off labels while my dogs energetically played a raucous round of tag.  I then procured my sharpest pair of scissors and proceeded to stab each plastic bottle to laboriously  cut the funneled ends off.  Stupid...stupid...stupid.  The rottweiler got a little rough so Chlo sought shelter beneath my legs.  I screamed at Juno as she trampled my "rain gauges" with her big floppy feet while the dachshund remained safely secured, disgusted that the big dog couldn't comprehend
"time-out."  I washed each vessel and layed them out to dry.  Arriving home, Savannah, who can't be bothered to mind her own business, condescendingly asked about my plans.  Proud that I was successfully integrating science and math, I explained the procedure and then braced myself for the inevitable.  "How are you going to account for evaporation?"  What?  No, I mean, I am aware of the process of evaporation but really...did she have to rain on my parade?  Of course she did.  I vehemently defended my four hours of rain gauge container construction and then stomped off to sulk in the other room.  Forget it.  Why don't I just assign pages 342 to 350 in the textbook and then have students answer questions 1-8?  I'll further consider my teaching tactics while I get a band-aid for my shark injury.  Right now, I need to find out where to get some cheesecloth for my rain gauges to reduce evaporation.