A Day in the Life

In the ever-evolving battle to drain some of the energy from my nutty 5th period class, I have alternately allowed puppets, soccer balls, wobbly stools, standing, and all manner of movement breaks. And yet, they persist in their good-natured rowdiness. 

When it is productive? I'm okay with the barely managed chaos, but when it is not, I move about the room corraling wayward writers and doing my best to refocus them. 

Today, a few kids noticed the seedlings on the windowsill that my homeroom had planted. "Can I plant something?" one asked. 

"Sure, as soon as you finish the lead paragraph for your profile," I told him, and he set to work immediately. Not too much later he was back and filling a small paper cup with soil and cilantro seeds. After watering it thoroughly and placing it on the window sill, he returned to the table where I was working with another student.

"What can I do now?" he wanted to know.

"Write your alphabiography," I pointed to the agenda on the screen. "How about 'S is for Seed'?"

His eyes lit up and he literally hopped up and down. "Yes!" he agreed and ran off to write his 100 words. 

I turned my attention to another kid who held up the hand exerciser that was part of the commercial production unit. "Can I use this?" he asked.

"As soon as you have three more sentences," I said, pointing at his lead.

"I'll do it right away!" he replied.

Fortunately, my room is full of little things my students often find fascinating, which another student in the class remarked on a little while later. "I'm going to walk around this room and find the most amazing thing in it!" he declared.

Since he was mostly finished with his work, I shrugged my permission. "That's a matter of opinion, though," I pointed out as he roamed the room.

He turned and nodded, then came back over and patted my shoulder. "I found it!" he called out to the class. "The most amazing thing in here is Ms. S!" He lowered his voice. "I hope I didn't offend you by calling you a 'thing'," he said.

"Not at all," I told him. "And thank you! I think you guys are amazing, too."