Thread by @GeorgiaDunnBCN

I didn't excel in science as a kid, but I loved writing and art. I was always in the A or AP levels of English, and the B levels of Science. I had a tough time with sticking to steps, listing recaps in lab reports, etc, my mind just wasn't really there and never has been.

In 9th grade, while writing up a lab report I made a joke... And hesitantly ran with it. It went as follows:

Step 1: Turn on burner.
Step 2: Accidentally set lab partner on fire.
Step 3: Turn off burner.
Step 4: Find first aid kit.

And continued the lab report as it should have been for the assignment, peppering in references to an angry lab partner nursing a burn and trying to attempt to assist with one hand.

Now, on Monday, getting our assignments back, I sat at my desk with a nervous stomach.

When I'd written the report, it felt like the funniest gag ever (I was 15, that helps).

Waiting for our papers to come back, I worried maybe it came off as flippant or cheeky.

My science teacher handed out all the papers...

Except mine...

And told me, "Miss Dunn, please see me after class."

I went up to her desk after class, with a full apology in mind, and was surprised when she greeted me with a warm smile. She held my paper up, and said, "I laughed myself silly. I don't think I've ever had so much fun grading a lab report."

With a kind, understanding tone, she went on, "I know science is not your favorite subject," I should mention here that I was struggling in this class, "but I appreciate that you took what you do know and what you do enjoy--writing and drawing--and applied it to this assignment"

Drawing--did I mention the scientific diagram of bandaging up my lab partner?

Yes, there was a diagram included in this assignment.

"In fact," she said, "I would venture to say you probably spent more time on this lab report than any of your classmates did this weekend."

I'd spent hours. I taught myself how to make line graph charting my lab partner's annoyance with me and my clumsiness in Microsoft Paint.

And here she showed me the grade I would have gotten for the meat-and-bones of the lab report itself, the usual C+/B- my lab reports typically landed me...

With a series of bonus points added for each joke and diagram, written in red ink, that brought me up to an A

And so, from then on our agreement was that if I applied the same enthusiasm and creativity to my lab reports as I did in my other classes, I could get bonus credit for my extra effort.

And what do you think happened?

I paid closer attention.

I took more notes.

I experimented more along the way.

I had jokes to land! I had gags to pull! I needed to know they made sense in the context of the science experiments I was reporting on.

I made up my own charts and graphs. I learned pie charts, line graphs, bar graphs...

I included the information from the actual experiments (so technically I finished the assignments) but then I added in my own joke-takes, with asterisks and constant gag corrections.

And my teacher was an enthusiastic audience, offering praise and feedback in her red ink comments. She told me she looked forward to my lab reports every week and saved them for last. Now as an adult with teacher friends, that makes me happy and cracks me up.

She encouraged me as a whole student and what I did excel in, writing and art, by finding a way to stretch it into her field of science. And through that, I got this wonderful 9th grade crash course in writing science based jokes with creative twists.

...Which I want everyone to remember, each time they see a ridiculous science chart in 'Breaking Cat News.'

That teacher could have read me the riot act that Monday morning for not sticking to the assignment. She could have given me an F. Instead, she pulled a kid who took a chance on comedy aside and said, "Hey, you're funny!"

And now a huge part of my actual job--my bill paying, morgage supporting job--as a grown up is creating actual charts with scientific findings just a little bit off. Reporting the results with enough correct context to make it funny, and a spin to land it funnier.

And so, thank you Ms. Kilmartin of Chariho High School! Your 9th grade science class is one of the classes in my life that had a direct impact on me now. I was never a better science student than I was in that class, you found a way to get me interested, attentive, and learning!

Not every kid in science class is a scientist. And it's hard for the kids who aren't scientists, no matter how they try to think like one--this science teacher found a way to teach a future cartoonist how to use science in comedy writing, and that's a pretty dang cool thing.