from mouths of babes
"So, I was, like, thinking ..." he said as we approached the ramp to the office.
"Oh, what now? That always scares me when you do that," I interrupted.
He laughed. [I noticed one time that some woman was sitting with him outside and just laughing at everything he said, and it made me realize that he has this effect on females, because he makes me laugh all the time, but what's charming is that he doesn't know it. When he grows up he will marry a great woman [hopefully] and feel lucky every day to be with her, having no idea that she's lucky. So now I refuse to laugh much at him, and expect him to laugh at me instead. Now I just beat him when he says stupid shit like, "Girls can't play soccer. It's a boys' sport." "Have you heard of Mia Hamm?" "Yeah, and she retired, because she realized that it's a boys' sport."]
"You know, how you always work so much. I think you should take more time to, you know, have fun."
Ah, how sad is this, that my students know me better than my intended? I don't complain to them much at all really - we stay focused on work at hand - but we had just been conferencing with another teacher about his schedule and I said that it would not be fair to expect him to take 8 classes plus night school - too much. "Then," I said, "your life would be like mine."
But he knew before; most of them do. They can read my stress level like I have the digital numbers across my chest (they look there more than at my forehead). They know I'm stressed and overworked and out of patience.
So I stopped just before we stepped inside the office. "OK, this is just between us, ok? I'm going to Africa on Friday and so I won't be in school Monday & Tuesday. I will have fun there. And if there's a problem with your schedule, you go talk to [that teacher we were just talking to] because I won't be here to take care of it."
My students know I'm one more bad meeting away from going postal, and they're not taking it personally (usually, most of them). Though I did jump all over one kid today who was trying to start something, "Trust me - YOU WILL NOT WIN THIS WITH ME TODAY."
I had my evaluation today - he came in and we had a normal day - we had the warm up (they read The Prodigal Son) and then most typed a letter to the editor as others finished writing that and other things. They were fine. Like normal, with no weirdness. I even put Flanders to work, "Could you help her - show her how to cut and paste?" and one of the boys was like, "Oh my god, I can't believe you just told your boss what to do," and I was like, "Guey, you know your girlfriend is like that [I know her]; we're strong women. Men sometimes need to be told what to do."
Every kid was on-task all period long once I got them oriented. Even the kids who don't do shit for other people - they showed up today and worked harder than I've ever seen. They's my peeps, I guess. And some of the kids that I know he knows because they're in trouble lots - they were all interpreting the story, and one even was like, "Wait! I know this from church!" and explained shit to the class. Total engagement - once I made some reminders at the beginning. What could be wrong with this evaluation? Who the fuck knows - they don't even tell me what I'm supposed to be doing, so maybe it's really a chemistry class and I'll get all zeros on my evaluation.
Here's Flanders. This one kid that everybody calls "Shrek" for his uncanny resemblance and who gets in trouble A LOT in other classes, said, "Hi Mr. Flanders [not his real name]" when he moved toward the computers. Flanders said, "Hey man, how's it goin?" and tried to do a cool handshake.
Close your eyes. Oh, no, don't close your eyes, because then you can't read. But picture white bread. Wonder Bread white. Transformed into a person - that is Flanders. He needs to NOT call kids "man." He needs to stop needing to be liked.
Anyway, every kid was on-task doing some pretty sophisticated writing - every kid exceeding the standards and all that. What on earth could he pick at? Um, I don't have a lesson plan book. "I follow the district curriculum," I said. "Would you like a copy of that?"
But we haven't met yet about it - I asked him and he said "a few days" and I was like, "Yeah, whatever," because I'm GOING TO AFRICA AND DON'T GIVE A SHIT.
Because my peeps, they knows I gots to be havin mo' fun.
"Oh, what now? That always scares me when you do that," I interrupted.
He laughed. [I noticed one time that some woman was sitting with him outside and just laughing at everything he said, and it made me realize that he has this effect on females, because he makes me laugh all the time, but what's charming is that he doesn't know it. When he grows up he will marry a great woman [hopefully] and feel lucky every day to be with her, having no idea that she's lucky. So now I refuse to laugh much at him, and expect him to laugh at me instead. Now I just beat him when he says stupid shit like, "Girls can't play soccer. It's a boys' sport." "Have you heard of Mia Hamm?" "Yeah, and she retired, because she realized that it's a boys' sport."]
"You know, how you always work so much. I think you should take more time to, you know, have fun."
Ah, how sad is this, that my students know me better than my intended? I don't complain to them much at all really - we stay focused on work at hand - but we had just been conferencing with another teacher about his schedule and I said that it would not be fair to expect him to take 8 classes plus night school - too much. "Then," I said, "your life would be like mine."
But he knew before; most of them do. They can read my stress level like I have the digital numbers across my chest (they look there more than at my forehead). They know I'm stressed and overworked and out of patience.
So I stopped just before we stepped inside the office. "OK, this is just between us, ok? I'm going to Africa on Friday and so I won't be in school Monday & Tuesday. I will have fun there. And if there's a problem with your schedule, you go talk to [that teacher we were just talking to] because I won't be here to take care of it."
My students know I'm one more bad meeting away from going postal, and they're not taking it personally (usually, most of them). Though I did jump all over one kid today who was trying to start something, "Trust me - YOU WILL NOT WIN THIS WITH ME TODAY."
I had my evaluation today - he came in and we had a normal day - we had the warm up (they read The Prodigal Son) and then most typed a letter to the editor as others finished writing that and other things. They were fine. Like normal, with no weirdness. I even put Flanders to work, "Could you help her - show her how to cut and paste?" and one of the boys was like, "Oh my god, I can't believe you just told your boss what to do," and I was like, "Guey, you know your girlfriend is like that [I know her]; we're strong women. Men sometimes need to be told what to do."
Every kid was on-task all period long once I got them oriented. Even the kids who don't do shit for other people - they showed up today and worked harder than I've ever seen. They's my peeps, I guess. And some of the kids that I know he knows because they're in trouble lots - they were all interpreting the story, and one even was like, "Wait! I know this from church!" and explained shit to the class. Total engagement - once I made some reminders at the beginning. What could be wrong with this evaluation? Who the fuck knows - they don't even tell me what I'm supposed to be doing, so maybe it's really a chemistry class and I'll get all zeros on my evaluation.
Here's Flanders. This one kid that everybody calls "Shrek" for his uncanny resemblance and who gets in trouble A LOT in other classes, said, "Hi Mr. Flanders [not his real name]" when he moved toward the computers. Flanders said, "Hey man, how's it goin?" and tried to do a cool handshake.
Close your eyes. Oh, no, don't close your eyes, because then you can't read. But picture white bread. Wonder Bread white. Transformed into a person - that is Flanders. He needs to NOT call kids "man." He needs to stop needing to be liked.
Anyway, every kid was on-task doing some pretty sophisticated writing - every kid exceeding the standards and all that. What on earth could he pick at? Um, I don't have a lesson plan book. "I follow the district curriculum," I said. "Would you like a copy of that?"
But we haven't met yet about it - I asked him and he said "a few days" and I was like, "Yeah, whatever," because I'm GOING TO AFRICA AND DON'T GIVE A SHIT.
Because my peeps, they knows I gots to be havin mo' fun.
posted by NOLA at 2:25 PM
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