7 X 7

I was walking through the school lobby this morning, passing by a class of seventh graders lounging on the sofas, waiting for their teacher. As I walked briskly by, I heard a girl call out, "Hey, Ms. Shyu."

I turned back and smiled at "Naomi", a 13-year-old with a spiky punk hairstyle and neon green track jacket. She was wedged on the couch between her buddies, all uniformed in their full-black oufits. Naomi said, "Hey Ms. Shyu, what's 7 times 7?"

I looked at her puzzled. She repeated, "Remember? What's 7 times 7?"

Then it came back to me. Almost exactly a year ago, I was waiting around the meeting room with Naomi and her older brother. We were there for her brother's meeting to start. I entertained the teenagers by quizzing them on their multiplication facts. The one I forced them to memorize was 7 times 7, because I told them there was no way to remember it except to memorize it.

I hadn't seen Naomi again since that meeting until this week when school started. She had left last year to attend a different middle school. Before her question in the lobby, however, the only thing I remembered about that meeting was that she and her brother managed to break the conference room table within half an hour. They tore off the handle to one of the drawers and knocked out a couple screws. To this day, we still can't use that table drawer.

But that was a year ago. Now, as I stood in the hallway, I shot back at her, "No, Naomi, you tell me what's 7 times 7."

"49."

Comments

[CaliforniaTeacherGuy]

Sometimes things sink in surreptitiously, don't they? Good for "Naomi"--and good for you for "forcing" your kids to memorize 7 X 7.

[Eric MacKnight]

Hi Jessica,

Just discovered your blog via MiddleWeb (congratulations!). Would like to subscribe, but can't find an RSS feed. Do you have one?

Good luck in New Mexico. I've been toying for years with the idea of teaching in that kind of setting, but's it's never turned into a real possibility. Good luck!

Cheers,

Eric
http://GoodHabitsGoodStudents.com/blog

[sxqmy]

Hi, you have a nice site. Really good job! Respect :)