Auld Lang Syne

With a small sigh, I turned the key in my top desk drawer, stepped out into my classroom, and gave it a critical look. 28 chairs were neatly pushed under 7 tables. The bookcase was a bit of a mess, but I preferred to think that was because kids were looking for something to read. The 20 cans my homeroom donated for the food drive were neatly stacked on the computer cart, with its full complement of laptops charging. My desk itself was clear of everything but the shiny sub plan folder we had been issued to organize all the necessary resources a substitute teacher might need. I knew that it held rosters, student pictures, seating charts, and detailed plans for the next two days, but still I paused. At last I crossed to the door, turned off the lights, and locked the room.

School year 2018 was out of my hands, and I was on vacation.

Corny Like a Fox

"My soul is just a shinin"! It's shining through!" said a student this morning when I asked him to get his reading book from the shelf.

"Great!" I answered. "How about shining over to get your book?"

"It's a shinin!" he replied without moving. "Shining bright!"

I could see that the conversation was going nowhere, so I tried a different approach. "I see that!" I told him. "Keep on shining! Brighten our day!"

"Now that's just corny," he scoffed, heading over to pick up his book.

"Sorry!" I shrugged, and hit play on the audiobook.

You Can't Handle the Truth

I looked over a few minutes before lunch to see a student wailing despondently, head on the table. "Hey, now," I said, "what happened?"

Full disclosure? This student is known for extreme emotional outbursts, which certainly doesn't mean such behavior should be dismissed, but I did approach the situation with some prior experience.

She pointed to another student, also no stranger to classroom disruptions. I raised my eyebrows at him. He shrugged and shook his head. We waited for her to speak.

"I asked him why he hates me so much," she managed to choke out between sobs.

"And...?" I asked.

"...and," she gasped, "he told me!"

Status Report

The weekend has passed in a holiday blur, but I am pleased to report that the tree is fully decorated, and the cookies are baked, and the gifts that are here are wrapped, and those that are not here are on their way. There is also a fire burning, a little soft Christmas music playing, and I am wearing red and green, feeling pretty darn good.

No Tech Friday

The wifi was down for most of the day at school yesterday, posing quite a dilemma for teachers who have been encouraged to integrate technology into every lesson. To be honest, it took me a minute, but I finally came up with an activity that would allow my students to apply what we have been learning to their self-selected reading. It also incorporated movement, collaboration, and competition.

Here's how I started: I'm going to give you a 3 x 5 card and a popsicle stick...

No Experience Necessary

"Do you have any children?" a student asked yesterday as she worked on some missing assignments after school.

"No," I answered.

She looked shocked. "So you don't have any experience with kids?" she said.

"Not unless you count the 25 years of teaching," I told her dryly.

"Oh, yeah! I didn't think of that!" she replied, and continued working.

Emotional

The movie we showed the students for the early release day yesterday was Coco. We had some curriculum connection activities for them to do as they watched, which my group did dutifully and well. When they were finished, they could make themselves comfortable and simply enjoy the show, and so the last 15 minutes of the film found a group of three 11-year-old boys lying on the floor in front of the interactive whiteboard, riveted to the climax and resolution of the story.

As the credits rolled, they sat up and began punching each other on the shoulders.

"Who's cutting onions in here?" one of them asked.

"Dude, are you crying?" his friend replied, wiping his own eyes.

"I'm not crying, you're crying!" said the third.