A Small Detour from the Task at Hand . . . Because I Teach Middle School

For a mini-grammar lesson today in my eighth grade English/Language Arts class, we reviewed verbs. We began with the most common concept of a verb—a word that expresses action, and I pointed out that this action could be visible or invisible. Of course, the students had no problem with the meaning of visible action, but when I asked for examples of verbs expressing invisible action, a tangible deceleration in the idea flow ensued. One student offered “think” and then another added “imagine” before a third one suggested “fart” (yes, it was a boy). For a moment we all paused, a brief delay before a nervous titter or an isolated guffaw—to consider an appropriate response, to evaluate the accuracy of the suggestion? And then an explosion of questions: “But is it invisible if you can hear it?” “Or if you can smell it?” Followed by a flood of opinions.

Perhaps only in a middle school classroom would a discussion focus itself on the analysis of function and specifications for the verb “fart.”