Spreading the Sweetness Around

The Jolly Rancher Challenge for the day was for students to express their appreciation for a teacher and then come tell me about it. I figured it would be encouragement for kids to say what they were thinking anyway, and for the most part I was right. Once they started thanking, the candy really did become secondary to most.

Many students wanted to appreciate me, mostly because I was standing right there with a bag of Jolly Ranchers, but I stopped them. "Not me," I told them, "another teacher. There are plenty of them around here!"

"Why?" asked one girl. "I do appreciate you! You're my favorite teacher!"

"Thanks," I said, "but--" I hesitated.

"It would be pretty pathetic for you to give candy for compliments, right?" she finished.

Much Appreciated

Teacher Appreciation Week was halfway over when a student walked into my room with a cardboard box filled with beribboned jars. "I appreciate you!" she proclaimed, handing me some Christmas Jam.

"Thank you very much!" I replied, politely. "This is so nice."

"I'm glad you like it," she said, "because my mom hates this stuff, and my grandma sends it every year, so we have like 10 jars we can't get rid of."

And So It Will Be

Yesterday I hung 40 writing pieces that students over the last 5 years have completed as part of the journalism unit we close the year with. The assignment is to interview a classmate and then find an angle and write a 500 word human interest piece. The results are often stunning, some of the most genuine writing kids do all year, and I'm confident that this year's writers will rival those of the past.

Today my current students got the chance to skim the work of their predecessors, and then use a set of questions to analyze some of the articles to determine just what task lay ahead. As I introduced the assignment I swept my hand grandly around the room. "Look!" I proclaimed, "we can all read the writing on the walls!"

Ukes for Sale Chapter 4

"I'm so depressed," my student sighed Friday afternoon.

"Where's your ukulele?" I asked. "That might cheer you up."

"In my locker," she told me glumly.

"Well?" I said, grabbing my own from it's hook behind my desk. "How about a little jam session?" I strummed a few chords and looked at her expectantly.

She shook her head with a frown. "I don't know why," she said, "but ever since I actually got my ukulele, I'm just not excited about it anymore."

Ukes for Sale Chapter 3

"When my ukulele comes, please don't open it! Don't even take it out of the mailing box!" my student requested.

"Okay," I agreed. "Why?"

"Because I've been watching ukulele unboxing videos on YouTube," she told me, "and I want the experience!"

Ukes for Sale Chapter 2

"I brought the money!" my student told me earlier this week. "And I know exactly which ukulele I want. My dad helped me pick it out. AND, I'm getting the exact same tuner that you have."

I pulled the merchandise up online, verified it with her, and placed the order. She handed me a baggie with 42 dollars.

"You owe me 35 cents," she said. "When will it be here?!"

"Thursday," I informed her, depositing a quarter and a dime in her outstretched palm.

For the next two days, she asked about the status of her order every hour or so during the school day. "Still coming Thursday," I told her every time.

Tuesday night, I was shopping for writing prizes and found a tiny ukulele for 5 bucks. Given the current ukulele craze in my class, I could not pass it up.

As I carried the shopping bag of fabulous prizes into school the next morning, my student hailed me. "Did it come yet?"

I held up the small plastic toy I had purchased the night before. Her face lit up, froze, and then fell. "That's my ukulele?" she asked.

I paused, prolonging her dismay just a little bit, and then laughed. "No! Yours is coming tomorrow!"

She clutched her chest. "I was abouta say!"

Channel 5

We thanked our dog walker profusely for bringing Lucy over for a play date with her dog, Beckett.

"No problem," she said, "I want him tired! And this was actually a great day for him because another of his favorite friends, Hazel, was here, too."

"Lucy and Hazel?" I laughed. "Who wouldn't love to spend the afternoon with two classic sit-com characters?"