Slacker

I found a new music site that streams several types of music at my command. It's free and easy and I didn't have to enter any information other than a type of band I like. My 8th graders can't stand the Classic Rock station but they deal with it because "it's either that or silence". They can't stand silence. They fill the silence with wisperings in Spanish, of which I catch about a quarter. They're all fluent in Spanish and English save one large black boy who doesn't like to speak even English, so it's a bilingual classroom. I'm grateful that they like me and don't try to be too tricky. My laziest (but quite intelligent) student decided today that he was ready to make a deal so he didn't have to listen to Van Halen. I agreed that if he finished 10 math problems he could continue to do math while listening to his choice of music on his laptop. Knowing he had completed an average of 1 problem per 46 minute class period I agreed. Fifteen minutes later he had accomplished his goal and got to tune out my classic rock. I'm amazed. He was energized and successful on so many levels. Good job, BR.