We started our Ray Bradbury short story unit yesterday. Because the 6th graders don’t have much familiarity with his work, we begin reading the excellent obituary published in the New York Times on June 6, 2012.
I’ve been doing this lesson for years with no reaction. For some reason, in both classes, as soon as I said the word “obituary”, I heard gasps and snickers. Apparently, all they had paid attention to was the second syllable. Cue the middle school teacher eye-roll.
I wrote the word on the board to clarify, but it was too late.
What has been heard, cannot be unheard.
booksandbassets 
What a perfect slice. Your post encapsulate a moment in time that we can relate to.
Sixth graders…you gotta love them.
Oh, boy! Murphy’s law has a keen presence in the classroom for sure.
Thank you for the chuckle – I can totally relate!
Weird that middle schooler focus. I never know what they’ll pick, but it’s always something! (Love “cue eye-roll.”)
Oh middle schoolers! They certainly hear what they want to hear…sometimes an eye roll is all you can do.
Middle school humor…whattya gonna do? LOL and move on. The only problem is that I haven’t taught MS for years and I still have middle school humor problems. For example, my first grade teaching partner will often yell out ‘HOLD YOUR BALLS’ during recess. All I can do is giggle and snicker because…..middle school humor problems.
Been there!
Middle-schoolers’ underdeveloped frontal lobes cause my eyes to roll a lot anymore. But, I think the bigger takeaway from your Slice that I have is that they are not as familiar with connotation behind the word.
Who laughs when it comes to someone’s obituary? Middle-schoolers who only hear the word’s second syllable!
Love those middle schoolers!
Oh, how true – they only hear what they hear, especially in middle school!
LOL With the little kids, they are always accusing others of using swear words and then I find out that they think everything (stupid, idiot, jerk) is a swear word! LOL
Son of obituary? (Sorry.) Thanks for the link to the Bradbury piece. I have some students starting _Fahrenheit 451_ who might explore it as an extension.
OMG. I am surprised no one came up with that yesterday!!!