Change is Funny that Way

One of my students had a schedule change from one section of my English to another. Based on the personalities and work habits of the kids in his new class, I am confident it will be a good move for him. Even so, I could see he was a bit nervous when he came in this morning. 

I had changed all the seats, so everybody was distracted finding their new table when suddenly I heard someone say, "Wait! Are you in this class now?"

There was a silence and I saw the usually gregarious student blush a little as many turned their attention toward him. 

"Or were you always in here?" the other kid asked in confusion. 

The new guy and I made eye contact and exchanged an eye roll.

"Yes," I said to the class. "He's always been in here. I don't know what you're talking about!" I finished with exaggerated confusion.

"Really?" responded some.

"No!" others cried.

"Oh yes!" I insisted, as I stood by the student whose schedule had changed, the two of us laughing. 

Soon everyone was in on the joke, and the group settled down, ready to get to work with their new classmate.

No Skin in the Game

I'm not sure how much of the Golden Globe award ceremony I'll watch tonight.  I am interested in the results, but less so in the pageantry. In so far as the winners of these awards set up the Academy Award races, the Globes have my attention, but I can read about it tomorrow.

Likewise, the Bills and the Dolphins game tonight. Oh, I want the Bills to win. I want their first playoff game to be at home, mostly for all my friends and family who are Bills fans. Even so? I don't need to see it happen. 

I'm following the action. 

From a distance.

Rule Breaker

When he found out that I had once lived in Saudi Arabia, my neighbor was interested. "Maybe you can tell me this," he said. "Is there really any reason for me to visit Saudi Arabia considering the only city I really want to see is banned for me?"

I gasped. "You want to go to Mecca?" I asked with the internalized shock of nearly 50 years of being a former expat resident of the Kingdom.  "That's not allowed!" 

"Exactly!" he laughed. "That's why I want to go!"

Losers and Winners

I am not an advocate of all the many standardized tests and practice tests that we are required by our district to administer throughout the year. For example, the assessment my students took yesterday and today was forty hard questions based on very dense reading passages. Taking on average over an hour and a half to complete, it is also designed so that the kids get about half of the answers wrong, which seems a little soul-crushing to me. 

But as long as I could ignore the glazed eyes, heavy sighs, and frequent bathroom breaks, it sure was nice to get all that grading and planning done as they struggled through. 

Without Irony

The room was empty when I poked my head in, but for the colleague working at her desk.

"Isn't there a parent meeting?" I asked. 

Her expression was blank, but kind, as she cocked her head in confusion, but when I mentioned the student's name, she brightened a bit. "That sounds familiar," she nodded. "Let me check."

With a few taps of the keyboard, she looked up, clear-eyed. "It's next Thursday," she told me, and as I turned to go, grappling with my senior moment, she added, "but thanks for being on top of it!" 

And the nicest thing was? She meant it.

Old Soul

"I'm going to be absent for a while," a student told me today. "I have to have my tonsils removed and the recovery is two weeks."

"Really!" I marveled. "You know, when I was a kid lots of people had their tonsils out, but I don't think I've ever had a student in the last 30 years who's had that surgery." 

It was the same student who crochets and shops at Ikea, so I guessed it was fitting for her to have such an old-fashioned operation. 

My hunch was confirmed when she shrugged and answered, "Well I do want to be able to sleep through the night, you know."

Call the Doctor!

"I was sick over break," I confessed to my team over lunch today.

"You're never sick!" exclaimed one who has known me for 25 years.

"I know, right?" I replied. "I'm still not feeling a hundred percent, either. But you know what the weirdest thing is?"

They waited with interest.

"I was really glad to be back to school this morning!" I laughed.

My friend shook her head. "You must be sick," she said.