First year ever! No Titanic! O. M. G. The average is about 7 or 8. The record was the 1997-98 school year with, count’em, 27. There was a renaissance in 2010, with about 20. I’m talking about research papers. And finally, for the first time since I started at this school in 1993, I won’t have to plow through another “all about the Titanic” nightmare. O. M. G. I’m just going to savor that thought for awhile… until some clown “can’t find ANYTHING” on his/her topic, and I cave and say, “Just do the Titanic.” Yes, it’s that time of year once again, the dreaded (by me) research paper. You might ask how I managed to sink the Titanic as a research topic, even as James Cameron and other rich guys celebrate the 100th anniversary of the giant metaphor. I didn’t use it as an example topic. I went through dozens of topics, both good and bad, as we played “Is This a Good Topic or Not?” for a week and a half, and I assiduously made sure I never even mentioned the Titanic as a topic, good or bad. My whole thing on research is that I HATE the “all about”
Middle school teaching: Five shows a day, 180 days a year.
That reminds me of those great SNL skits about the Sofa King. You know, how the prices are "Sofa King" low, the deals are "Sofa King" great, etc. (You obviously have to say those phrases out loud to get the joke.)