“What the heck is in that backpack, bricks?” I recently thought to myself after being slammed in the side by an oversized backpack.
That thought, and the buffeting I endure every time I step into a crowded hallway at McAuliffe, got me wondering: What really is in those backpacks?
Think about it - we don’t have textbooks, the vast majority of students don’t read books unless required to do so, most of the subject binders stay in the classroom, most of the kids are also carrying a lunchbox…..so what the heck is in those backpacks?
Well, after months of careful research, I believe I have the answer, and it ties into a problem our scholars have with the most basic element of student-hood - bringing a writing implement to class. When students ask to borrow a pencil, I usually roll my eyes and say things like:
“Really? You don’t have a pencil?”
“You’ve been here for three hours; how can you not have a pencil?”
“It’s like a carpenter showing up to the job-site without a hammer.”
“It’s something you just need to have on you at all times at school.”
I keep saying everything we study is interrelated and interconnected, and it really is true. Math is intertwined with science, science is supported by ELA, ELA blends into social studies, social studies is interwoven with math and so on.
And, now I know the answer to two questions:
Why don’t you have a pencil? and What on Earth is in those backpacks?
The answer to the first question is obvious - they do have a pencil, they just don’t know it.
The answer to the second question is equally obvious - the backpacks are filled with all the misplaced, borrowed-and-never-returned, and lost pencils.
See? I told you everything was interrelated.
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