Picket Line

Thursday I had to take a pen away from a student. He had been playing with it all day and when I finally took it away from him he was furious. First he cried for a few minutes, then he pouted, and finally he glared. If this had been my first year teaching I probably would have returned the pen to him. Not now, man. I'm a hard-hearted veteran. When he wouldn't work I told him that he not only wouldn't get his pen back but he would also get a 0% on his tests. Instead of getting to work he wrote on the back of the paper, in cute bold letters, "Geve me back my pen and then I'll work." He held the sign up in the air so that it faced me wherever I went in the room. I walked casually back to him, pointed to the word "geve" and said, "Please correct that word." He did and proceeded to picket. I proceeded to give him a 0% and still have his pen in my "June" box - it holds all confiscated toys until the last day of school.

Lesson: Don't mess with the teacher - she's got the upper hand.

Put It to Me Gently

I've always assumed that the students in my class think that I'm old. This year's students were born in 2000 and 2001. That's a different decade than my own children were born. Weird! Today, though, a student broke it to me so gently. I was kneeling next her while she was reading. As she turned her page she turned her head to look at me and then said, "Mrs. Grant, someone stuck a gray hair in your head." How rude! Whoever did that shoud feel terrible. TEE HEE

Boogers, Anyone?

When I started teaching, a few years ago, I felt that our lunch should be called "brunch" because we ate so early - 11:05. Each year the second grade has been pushed later and later until we now go to lunch at 11:35. That is fairly reasonable, considering that on Fridays the kids go home at 1:15 and can eat there. But, for my kids, lunch might as well be tomorrow. They have a real hard time waiting that long. During first recess they are always telling me how hungry they are. I always tell them something like, "We just had breakfast," or "Lunch will be here in one hour," or "Work hard and you'll forget about your hunger pangs." Just a side note here, for too many of the kids, lunch is the first meal they get, if not their only meal, of the day. So, when Andy (name has been changed to protect the innocent) said that he was hungry I gave him one of my usual responses. I had no idea how hungry he was. I soon found out.

Andy is in my small guided reading group. As we began reading he began picking, and I'm not talking about picking his favorite book. I tried to ignore it for a while but I couldn't. Since he was sitting next to me I gently reached over and pulled his arm down. Within seconds the finger found its way back up to that nose. This time I quietly leaned over and whispered, "Stop picking your nose, please." He quickly pulled out. But, again, he went back to the action. This time, less quietly and less kindly, because I find it disgusting and I'm sick of all the germs, I said, "Keep your finger out of your nose. It is gross!" He put his book down, looked me in the eye and said as matter-of-factly (is that a word?) as he could, "Mrs. Grant, I'm hungry." Eat away, I guess. I may have to find a filling, yet cheap, snack tomorrow.