some random thoughts from my students
Every day for upper school Composition, I make them write for five minutes to warm up. Monday through Wednesday they write a response to a quotation, but on Thursdays I let them free-write. Sometimes I give them a one-word topic to develop, sometimes not. I thought I'd give ya'll a few examples of when I sometimes don't--the variety never ceases to amaze me. Oh--the spelling and grammar are all their own.
"Randomness. . .I am random. . .random is me. . . random are you, random is. . .everyone in the world.
"He's got the whole world. . .in his hands, he's got the whole world. . .in his hands, chorus, etc.
"Red and yellow, black and white, oreos, oranges, and bananas.
"Random. . .barefoot teachers. Bad, bad, bad barefoot teachers, who addign us random, horrible topice to talk about, and. . .
"Aah. . .the black spot! It's, it's, it's the random ghost. It's no, it can't be, aah, it's Nick!!!" --Brandon Bark
"Fan blades hurt. Max says he saw a purple suirrel. I think he was on drugs. Chad can't talk for five minutes. Well, that's what Miss Doiron said anyway. Chad think all of our teachers are single. I think he's crazy. Beware of a strange colored squirrel. It took a few hits from my paintball gun. My neaighbor's got a dog. it's an ugly little mut. Max said he used aim I didn't believe him. Actually I don't care. Yall won't shut up."
--Jason Brewer
"Have you thought how many songe you could quote in various situation, like in philosophy class "all we are is dust in the wind" or. . .well. . .my mind went blank. Man, I can usually write about this I guess "it can happen to you" to. . ."
--Allen Finkenaur
"My locker is 19. Strawberries are red. I'm getting a new airsoft gun. It has a laser sight, a blue light, a silencer and a sling. I went with the Cooper's last night to their Bible study. We played football. We had chicken. Fried chiken and biscuits. They tasted a bit plasticy. But they were ok I guess. I wore plue jeans. And a blue shirt. I like Switchfoot. They are a cool band. I used to catch stinging caterpillars. They never stung me. We haven't gone on any field trips this year. 7th grade stinks. 6th grade was so much better. We had a nice community. It was really great. It was the coolest year of my life. BYE" --Christpher V.
"You did this on purpose so that for five minutes you won't have to listen to me talk this is tyranny, mindless oppression, this is an outrage this is complete and total injustice. This is, this is, this is, well i'll come back to this but anyway this is unfair, this is unfair to deprive inocent children such as mme for instance of talking. WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO TALK. This is a perposterous this was a smart skeem but no matter how hard you trie it will never succeed because I will talk talk talk talk and never stop stop becausxe oviously tyranny will never succeed evil baby sitter, so you shall never succeed because I will talk and never stop, of so close you thought that was the end of sentence, ok fine I'll end the stuped sentence even though i'm not stuped."
--Chad Brewer
"How does one balance something he loves with something he has to do? How can someone follow his dreams if his dreams mess up the rest of his life?
"When God gives us an oppurtunity, shouldn't we grab it? And if we do, should we ever let it go? And if we let it go, can we ever take it back?
"Opportunities can be like treasure. God places them in front of you and tells you to get it. Overjoyed, you run to it. But then you see the others running toward it. You pause, the others get there first, and your heart breaks in two."
--Christine L.
So, there you go. A little taste of my upper schoolers. I don't mention them much, but they are a riot. And sometimes much more thoughtful than you would ever expect.