Six Seven

Six is sharp, said quickly, intonation ascending. Seven is said more on a sigh, with the "sev" drawn out. While there is no wrong way to "six seven", there is a general consensus as to how it should sound. 

I first mentioned this whole thing two and half weeks ago. Since then, it's exploded. It wasn't even a week after that post that I first saw it on Inside Edition or some similar show. And, as I explained to my roommates, they didn't even scratch the surface. 

The problem is middle schoolers are so impressionable, and they will mimic and repeat ad infinitum anything that catches their ears. (They will sing commercial jingles. I have a particular memory of the "five dollar footlong" ad being repeated by one seventh grader years ago. He would not stop, just sang it over and over and over again.) 

Every. Day. Every. Hour. It's pretty constant now. 

As far as fads go, this one is fairly harmless. Just irritating. Because at this point it's ubiquitous. If I'm around middle schoolers, I'm going to hear it. (I hear it with high schoolers too, but not to the same degree.) 

So, now it's become don't-set-them-off. I was calling for kiddos to return their computers, and I deliberately counted down. Although, calling, "eight, seven, six..." had the same effect. Just uttering "seven" with regards to something will do it. (No one is saying "six" for any reason anymore.) 

The last couple days I've started singing "5309" at them. (If you know, you know.) They don't hear me, but I like it. 

It's just a matter of getting through. Because, something that exploded this hard this fast? It's going to die just as quickly. 

Right? It's going to die? Soon? 

Please tell me it's going to die soon. 

I'm so done with this. 

Pumpkin

Thursday. Environmental science, fifth period. 

They were working on something called the Nitrogen Cycle STEM Case Study. It was located in something called Gizmos that they accessed through something called Clever which is a portal where teachers can link to online resources for their students to access. 

In other words, the kiddos had work online. (I know vaguely how to find most of this stuff, and I get the gist of what they have to do, so I can monitor to make sure they're on task.) And many were on task.

Then, out of nowhere, one kiddo: "Pumpkin!"

And another, in response: "Pumpkin!"

(Imagine Dug in Up saying, "Squirrel!")

The thing is, this is the third time I've had random "pumpkin" pop up. The first time was in an eighth grade English class. (The environmental science class was largely eleventh grade.) 

Okay, now time to do an internet search, as the kiddos are not forthcoming as to why they're suddenly arguing "pumpkin" at each other...

Ah... it's a stupid TikTok trend. Because, of course. 

Stupid TikTok. 

Anyone have any good ideas as to a comeback? I'm going to have to ponder this one. 

Shadow Boxing

Friday. It was an eighth grade English class, but most of the class was missing as they were on an end of the year field trip. (They went to a local movie theater to see The Little Mermaid.) 

Not every student gets to go on these excursions, so I had a few students in every class. Their teacher left a video for them to watch. (Surprisingly, it did not go badly. I had one minor glitch. Maybe my luck has turned.) 

I turned off the video before the end of the period. The kiddos had enough time to engage in the newest fad.

The first time I saw this was maybe two weeks ago. (Not longer than a month ago.) And within days, it became a thing I saw daily. 

Two boys (it's always boys, at least so far) stand three-ish feet apart. One moves his hand. The other moves his head. It's rather innocuous, and it rarely lasts very long, so I'm not concerned. Just curious. But I never got a chance to ask the question.

Until that day.

"What are you doing?" 

Apparently, it's called shadow boxing. (Not the shadow boxing I knew of.) Or the finger pointing game. 

Now that I had a name, I could do a search online. And yep, it's a thing. I found a site with the rules. And there are videos.

I guess it's probably huge on TikTok right now. If you're into that sort of thing.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know about the newest fad floating around the middle and high schools. (I would not be surprised to find it happening at elementary schools as well.) We'll see how long this game lasts.

Spinners

Last Monday was the first time I noticed them. I can't say I'd never seen them before for sure, but Monday was the day it kind of exploded.

What are they? Spinners.

Since last Monday, I have seen at least one on at least one student every school day. I think this qualifies as a fad. Because now it seems they're everywhere.

As your in-the-trenches observer of teen culture, I felt it my duty to report the new trend. They aren't irritating like water bottle tossing or Charlie, Charlie. They aren't messy like slime or gummy bear goo. As far as fads go, I'm kind of okay with this one at the moment.

But you know at some point they will be banned. Because, teens and fads go too far. Somehow. Someway.

The spinners make no sound, so they don't disturb a silent class. (And I've seen them in silent classes.) They're kind of a physical white noise (which I can get behind as knitting serves that purpose for me). I kind of want one.

It's hard to see what they are from static images, so here's a video (skip ahead to where they start playing with them):

Has anyone else seen these? Now that you know about them, do you want one? (I'm genuinely curious.)

The Water Bottle Toss

The first time I saw this (or, perhaps the first time I was aware of it) was during summer school. Apparently, it's the big new thing. It was ridiculously easy for me to find videos of this on YouTube.

Of course, all the videos I found were of successful attempts. Unfortunately, that's not what I've been seeing.

If you didn't watch the video, allow me to explain. They take a partially filled water bottle. (Usually of the half liter size.) Holding it at the top, they toss it so that it flips end over end once. The goal is to get it to land upright.

But, the students who do this in class end up failing more than succeeding.

There's nothing wrong with this, per se. No one gets hurt. It is sort of a skill. And there are much worse things that they could be doing.

However, it gets on my last nerve. When they fail, it makes a kind of loud wet splat. And they do this over, and over, and over again. (They do this when they're finished with their work. Yes, I check.)

Deep sigh.

Is it unreasonable for me to ban this from the classes I cover? I just hope it's a passing fad. Of course, the next passing fad could be so much worse.

No Charlie, No

The things teens latch onto...

I was at the continuation high school covering that school's equivalent of a learning center. Any RSP student could go there for extra help, and over the course of the day several did. But like the Learning Center at other schools, some of them needed a push to get on task.

"Have you heard of the Charlie Charlie Challenge?"

Not then, but unfortunately now I am very familiar with it. (LINKS: CNN's take. Time's take.)

I forbade it in class, but they're not good with the listening. They'd start. I'd stop them. But 6th period was my prep, so that's what they did while I wasn't there.

(Briefly: They balance two pencils over a paper that has "yes" and "no" written on it. Then they ask it questions. Apparently there are lots and lots of videos, so if you want more information about the fad, Google it. It's everywhere now.)

7th period they were all freaked out.

"Your phone's in the trash." The instructional assistant (IA) informed a student. He did go "digging in the trash" for that. (Teens do have priorities.)

How did it get in there?

Another student: "Charlie did it!"

Sure. I'm certain some fictional spirit took your cell phone and threw it in the trash because you did not "close" correctly. /sarcasm

The boy looked for a logical explanation. Perhaps it fell out of his pocket when he leaned over? Except he keeps the phone in the other pocket.

The whole room erupted in chaos. "We're haunted," they said.

The bell rang to end the day. The kiddos escaped the horror.

The IA turned to me. She indicated that the boy's phone has been precariously perched on the desk over the trash can. She heard it fall in...

So, yeah, no Charlie. I officially detest this "game".