Seventh Grade Humor

As an English teacher, I think I see more of my students' personalities than a lot of their other teachers see because so much of their personalities come out in their writing. Sometimes, they bring me to tears with the tough things they've dealt with in their lives; sometimes they make me awestruck with their profound thoughts; sometimes they just make me laugh hysterically at their RANDOM humor.

For example, when we talk about tone/voice in writing, I often use a journal prompt where I give them a basic dialogue in a scene and I ask them to choose HOW the characters are interacting with each other, to fill in the gaps and really paint an image in the reader's mind. One day, under this premise, I asked my students to imagine that Liz and Jake were talking in the library. Here is what one student came up with:

Liz was reading in the library when she saw Jake walking toward her. She tried not to make eye contact, but she couldn’t resist looking at him. Jake sat down and said, “Hey, Liz, will you—“
Liz interrupted. “Yes, I will go out with you. Thanks.”
Jake said, “I was just going to ask where the fiction section is, but sure I’ll go out with you.”
Liz was so happy, she threw up all over Jake. Jake said, “You’re cute, but you’re too disgusting for me. Our date is off.”
Liz threw up again.

I had to do a serious double take after I read that one! Really? Who thinks of things like that? Seventh grade boys, that's who. This is my life, and I love it. It may be disgusting at times, but at least I go home laughing. :)