Today was my first day of three weeks teaching middle school math. During second period, one of the boys, who happens to tower over me, grabbed another kid's binder and whipped it across the room. Papers, pencils, and books went flying everywhere. Whew! Glad I wasn't standing in the line of fire, although I was near. The papers were at all around me. The kid who did the throwing seemed to think it was alright because the other kid touched his stuff. Damn. I found out later that last week on Tuesday, the last day before Thanksgiving break, there were 4 fights in 90 minutes between 7th graders only. The school is grades 6-8. So, I can imagine what was going on on the other four floors as the teachers all rushed to the sight of the 7th grade fights. It's going to be a long three weeks!