The Geek Gene Amplification

If you saw me walking down the street, you most likely wouldn't think I am a geek. If you were to hazard a guess as to what my profession is, you'd probably pick something like a kindergarten teacher, a nurse, or something of that ilk. There is nothing about my general appearance that screams "crazy science teacher". But I am. I, Tara, am a geek. I know it, I embrace it.

For the most part, my geekiness goes unnoticed. There is the occasional small slip-up - someone asking a simple science question and getting a ridiculously long answer, or quoting Shakespeare should a proper moment arise. And then there are the big slip-ups, which definitely don't go unnoticed. Take dance class a few months ago as an example. My dance instructor was talking about rotation, and kept making reference to "centrifugal force". I held my tongue, again and again, growing more and more frustrated every time he said it, until finally I turned to my partner and said "Centrifugal force refers to the momentarily perceived force experienced by a non-inertial mass body in a rotational system. The force he's talking about is CENTRIPETAL force." That in and of itself is a pretty big geek-out. Unfortunately the music came on just as I finished and the next words out of my mouth were "Isn't this from Star Trek?".

Now, while I geek-out quite well on my own, I can guarantee that every time I am with my friend Natalie, it is going to get worse. Like this past weekend - we were out for the evening, with her mom, and our last stop was a lounge, complete with dance floor. At some point, our conversation made it around to the Heisenberg Particle. We talked about it for a few minutes, tried to explain a few things to her mom, and then actually realized we were in a lounge on a Saturday night, discussing the Heisenberg particle. This isn't the first time something like this has happened, as we told Nat's mom. The day of Natalie's wedding, she and I were getting our nails done and were deep in conversation, about PCR and the Milwaukee Protocol. We shared this story with Nat's mom and, part way through, Natalie said "We probably should have been talking about, wait, what are girls supposed to talk about?". That pretty much sums it up.

Life Lesson: Embrace who you are. Let your geek flag fly!

The Migrating Student Solution

When I was on the second practicum of my Ed degree, I was teaching at a school where, on the whole, the students were less than motivated. This was particularly evident in the grade 11 Biology class I was teaching. While there was a core group of students who seemed to be doing their best to drive me out, there was one student in particular that took it as far as he could. Ty Berry. Within my first two hours of being at the school, 4 separate teachers had asked me what classes I was teaching and, upon hearing about the Biology class, said "Ty Berry's in that class. Good luck with that one."

Now, maybe I was being naive, maybe hopeful, maybe just looking at the situation with fresh eyes, but I was determined to turn that student around. I thought "Hmm, if everyone naturally assumes he is going to be bad, then maybe that is why he is." So, the first couple of days I watched, waited and formulated a plan. During these days, I noted that Ty never sat in his assigned desk. Well, not never. The one day he did, he moved back a row and took the desk with him. Generally, he would try and sit next to one of his buddies, which was never a good thing.

So, when the second week started, I put a plan into action. I was going to win the boys over, especially Ty, by playing just as dirty as they did, but in my own humorous way. I started by taping a sign on Ty's desk that said "This is Ty's desk." I then taped a square around the desk and put a sign there that said "This is Ty's desk's spot. It does not migrate." Same thing with the chair. Knowing that Ty would likely try and sit in another desk, and having observed his preference for which other desks to sit in, I taped a series of signs to them, say things like "This isn't your desk, Ty" and "Sorry, Ty, no luck here, either."

Well, when the class came in that day, there was a wave of laughter, as one student after another saw the signs, and watched as Ty went to each of the desks, as I had predicted, only to be directed back to his own desk.

Life Lesson: When coming up with a plan, make sure you have all possibilities covered. Never give your opponent a way out.