Sirens of Science

i've started noticing something in my classes. girls are dotting their i's with hearts, writing about how much they love tony, and have in a oh-so-subtle way stopped being as verbal as usual. not that they aren't chatty in general, they just don't raise their hands as much to talk or answer questions. being cute and talking to boys is starting to become rather important, and being the smart girl isn't necessarily so awesome anymore. it's really weird and hard to observe as a woman who WAS that girl that didn't care about being smarter than the boys. yes, glad i didn't quiet down, but i also know that it can make you the least favorite/most grossest girl during a time when being accepted is everything. SO, i am going to try to work my smart ladies through all this. or at least give them a place to express their concerns and frustrations and drink tea. i have started the "sirens of science" club that is going to meet every wednesday after school. it's girls-only and we talk about girl-type stuff. it was a pretty interesting thing to dismiss the boys from class and then tell only the girls in each class that i get what happens in 8th grade and it's a totally weird time where being a smart girl can make you be not so cute or desirable. i assured them at "sirens" we're not going to sit around talking about periods or vaginas, unless they want to. and yes... when one group of boys asked what was going on and why they weren't invited to the party i told them we were all talking about vaginas. and i think every single one of those boys got an erection. and they were incredibly quiet for the first 15 minutes of class and stared even harder at my boobs. so hard.

i also made kids apologize today when they laughed at a student for giving the wrong answer to a question. made me so mad. they laughed, i scolded, then the class continued, then i stopped because i was still mad and felt terrible and made them say they were sorry to the kid they laughed at. they laughed at soren. he spelled nickel wrong. big fucking deal. i then made the kid who laughed at him spell every single chemical name on the quiz. out loud. phosphorus, calcium, titanium, fluorine. sucker.