Final project: 8th graders just rebuilt the industrial revolution in my classroom

Piles of cardboard, string, and some very determined kids. We built a working assembly line at the back of my room, and Marie (who has been checked out all year) fixed her station so many times I had to say 'good job' before I made her stop fine-tuning. It was chaos and I was sure it would collapse, but the kids fixed every failure themselves. This is the good part of the job, the part that makes me want to keep doing it.