OVERESTIMATING

I have a tendency to overestimate what my 8th graders are capable of reading or discussing. And I often assume they know certain vocabulary words only to find out that they have no clue.

The funny thing is, I am not the only one who overestimates what they already know. They do too!

Two examples from today:

1) A young lady was wearing a Playboy shirt. It was under a sweatshirt for most of the day, but she came to my class after gym and was too warm to keep the sweatshirt on. She willingly covered up again when I mentioned it was against dress code, and then her friend said, "Ooooooo, how do you know what Playboy is, Mr. Gross?" 

My reply: "I know what cocaine is too but that doesn't mean I have ever used it."

Did she think Playboy was some underground, little-known porn magazine?

2) I posted a Google slide with a quote from Red Badge of Courage to illustrate similes to the class and mentioned that Stephen Crane is a famous American author. 

One young man blurted out: "If he's so famous, how come I've never heard of him?!" 

My reply: "Because you're in 8th grade."

I am going to hope he was joking ...