On this day, April 7, 2009, another breakthrough was made – one that will be remembered for all eternity by sophomore boys who enjoy sophomoric humor. For it was today, at 1:03 pm, when two of my Computer Applications students discovered a town called Weiner.

Weiner, Arkansas...Home of the Fighting Cardinals

The discovery came while the students were researching weather conditions for a database project. Each two person team was assigned the task of gathering current weather conditions from 20 different cities, and compiling the information into a database, where it could then be organized and manipulated in a number of different ways.

For some of my students, the idea of creating a database is  about as appealing as the idea of having an acne outbreak before a big date, so I tried to incorporate an element of fun into the assignment by encouraging the class to find cities with odd names. (Although the suggestion may not seem like much, I have found that small twists of this nature can make the difference between a student completing or not completing an assignment)

As I sauntered around the room, I noticed most of my students had taken the conventional route – selecting common cities such as Chicago, St. Louis, and Louisville. Then I came to “Brad” and “Steven,” my compadres in the back of the classroom. As I glanced at their computer screen, I noticed they had comprised a database solely of wacky towns. There was Tennessee, Illinois, Crapo, Maryland, Quitman, Georgia, Winner, South Dakota, Sheboygan, Wisconsin and Forks, Washington. Satisfied that my advice had taken hold with at least one group, I continued around the room. I returned to Brad and Steven moments later when I heard them laughing hysterically. When I asked them what they had found, all they could do was point at their screen, which was displaying up-to-the minute weather information for Weiner, Arkansas.

Part of me, the part that didn’t have to worry about maintaining order in a classroom with twenty-eight fifteen and sixteen year-olds, wanted to laugh. Hard. The “responsible teacher” part of me won out though, so I just grinned and told them that the preferred spelling of “weiner,” was in fact “w-i-e-n-e-r” (thank you, Principal Skinner). My spelling lesson did little to dampen their enthusiasm.

“What kind of stuff you think they have in Weiner?” Steven asked Brad excitedly, just before rephrasing the question and typing it into Google.

Normally Google processes queries in a snap, but Steven’s Weiner query seemed to take forever, which allowed plenty of time for a group of curious students to make their way back to see the results.

It turns out there’s not much in Weiner, AR. Just a school. The Weiner School District, to be exact. Of course, that link was where Steven’s mouse landed and within seconds, Brad and Steven were treating half of the class to an impromptu tour of the internet home of the Weiner High School Cardinals. The small group howled at the risqué irony when Steven clicked on February’s Teacher of the Month, Mr. Woody. Even the trivial statements made on the Principal’s page (“It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to Weiner High School”) drew a chorus of laughter.

After a few minutes, the laughter died down and the group of students returned to their seats to conduct their own Weiner research. One student, skilled in the art of browsing Wikipedia, noted that, with a total area of 1.4 square miles, Weiner just wasn’t that larg… “Brandon!” I cut the student off before he could finish.

As the bell rang and the students exited the room, I had the sinking feeling that I had inadvertently done more to improve the students’ comedic skills than their database building skills.

Related posts:

1. From the Cubicle to the Classroom
2. Vandalism Blues
3. The Legend of Mr. Tooters