Ask Boz – Chicken or the Egg

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Dear Ask Boz,

Chicken, egg, or other options?

Glen

The answer to “other options”? The Egg and Chicken sandwich. 

See, God had just created the Earth, and saw that it was good. He called down the angels and gave them physical form, so they could enjoy it before He made more stuff. But it turns out that anything with a body gets hungry, so God had to feed them. That’s when He made plants, but they got super-tired of roots and tubers pretty quick. And they’re allergic to nuts. 

You know how angels can complain, and God figured “I’ll just skip to making animals.” But then He’d have to slaughter them, and process them, and cook them, and He had other things to do, you know? So He just went ahead and made them chicken and egg sandwiches.  

The angels LOVED them. But they have huge appetites. So, He was spending all his time making sandwiches. 

Realizing this wasn’t sustainable, He returned the angels to their spiritual forms. Then, on the sixth day when He created animals, He created them pregnant. See, He didn’t want the first thing Adam and Eve saw to be a bunch of animals carrying on with each other. He wanted to keep them innocent. We all know how that worked out, but anyways.  

So, the answer to “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” is BOTH.  

Yours,

Boz

Teacher Talk Tuesday

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Short one today because this teacher is overwhelmed. It took me a while to realize this, but kids are really motivated by stickers as a reward for their work. You can purchase a pretty cheap pack on Amazon that the kids really love. And yes, non-teachers, we really do spend a lot of our own money on supplies, even if we live in a reasonable wealthy town.

Dear Ask Boz – Periodic Table

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If you could be any element on the periodic table, which one and why?

Claudia

OK let me take a look at the chart. Mmmm. Let’s see. I’ll let you know my thinking about it and make a choice about which one I will be.

  • Well, there’s Krypton, and I coulda used it in the 90’s, but Clark stopped bullying me a while back so I don’t really need that. 
  • Ohh! Fermium!! Reminds me of Fermi High School, which was the cross-town rival of Enfield High where I went. And this one time in a 5K race this kid wanted to beat me so badly that I kept pushing him until he ran off the track and got sick! It’s terrible how good that made me feel! So Fermium has a chance. 
  • I like Tantalum. It sounds like an element needed to make every Greek tragedy.  
  • No, you’re a Boron! 
  • Not Aluminum, of course, but why do the British pronounce it “AL- You – Mini-Umm” Like, blokes, there’s no “I”. Don’t Over-British, please.  
  • Scandium sounds like a show where all the scandals are happening live in a stadium. “Tonight, on Scandium: The Kardashians vs the Duggars.”
  • I pretty sure Yttriam is a really obscure Tolkien character. His besty was Ytterbium. Tolkien references always stand a chance.
  • Whelp, Moscovium didn’t age well, did it?
  • Americium? Really? EWWW 
  • I could be a bro that says “What’s up Bromine?” I like that, being an aficionado of the double entendre. Like it’s “bro” and “bro of mine”.
  • That had a chance until I saw:
  • DUBNIUM  
  • It’s gotta be Dubnium! Sounds like a place people are dubbing music and doing the dub step and getting W’s for wins. And you know I’m all about getting those dubs! And I can be Dub of Dubnium!

Thanks for asking

Boz

Teaching Tuesday – The Outsiders

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How does the book The Outsiders, published in the 1960’s, still work for students all these years later? 

I think teen culture is essentially the same. Listening to music, hanging out with friends, dealing with the stresses of family and school are similar experiences today.  

Even more, it is a story about fitting in and rebelling. I remember the tension I felt as a teen, wanting to fit in on one level, but then feeling rejected by mainstream society. My rebellion, admittedly, was based as a response to my sense of being an outsider. But it became part of my young identity, and the attitudes of being an “outcast” still are with me today, for the good or the bad. 

But being honest, I think it’s the violence that puts it over the top. The crisis faced by Ponyboy and Johnny, the gang rivalry, even the sibling infighting all contribute to the drama of this story. 

As a teacher, I’m just happy it still works. And it’s fun to hear stories about kids who tell their parents about what they’re reading, and the response is “I read that when I was your age!”