Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Teaching: Never a Dull Moment

Actual thing that happened in my last hour class today: One of my 8th graders, whom I adore but he cannot sit still or be quiet for any extended period of time, noticed that I had The Crossover by Kwame Alexander sitting on my desk. He took it off my desk without asking, which normally I light into students for taking stuff off my desk, but I forgave it because clearly something about the book called out to him. He looked through it for a few minutes and then said, "This is a good book. I'm going to go flop around on the floor like a fish now." And then proceeded to plop down on the floor and well, flopped around like a fish.

I suppose I should have been mad about it, or tried to stop him, but he wasn't doing it to try to draw attention to himself (he moved over to an area of the room where others weren't around); I could see that this was clearly a self-regulating move on his part. So I just laughed and moved on to helping the next student. These are the kinds of moments that remind me why I teach. Because every day is always different and comes with new, interesting, and hilarious challenges. No matter how much politicians and the news media try to relegate my job to a set of data points, you will never get me to see my kids as numbers. All of them have hearts and souls and their own unique challenges. I hope one day we all come to understand that.

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6 comments:

  1. AnonymousApril 14, 2015 at 6:43 PM

    I have that kid in my class, too, except he tends to crawl under desks to get to the pencil sharpener. He is an avid reader, too, and I also cut him some slack sometime. h]He makes me laugh and drives me crazy all the time.

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  2. Kathleen Neagle SokolowskiApril 14, 2015 at 8:37 PM

    I just got my copy of Crossover and I'm excited to start it! I love that the book called to your student and you had the patience to let him take it and get his wiggles out on his way to reading the book. I'm sure he would have felt differently about reading and you had you simply scolded him and not given him that room and space. These are the things about teaching that politicians will never understand, if they ever really cared to try.

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  3. MaureenApril 14, 2015 at 8:45 PM

    Excellent anecdote! Love the image of him self-regulating by flopping on floor - and his wonderful teacher choosing to not comment on this behavior! "All of them have hearts and souls and their own unique challenges." So, so, so true. Thank you for sharing this!

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  4. Carol VarsalonaApril 15, 2015 at 12:56 AM

    So glad that you are offering Kwame's book in your classroom. What a great statement he made about flopping around the floor as a fish. Why not? Engaged learner - YES! Here is my post on Kwame. I wrote a clerihew as a challenge. http://beyondliteracylink.blogspot.com/2015/04/drum-roll-please-for-kwame-alexander.html

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  5. CarolApril 15, 2015 at 6:08 AM

    A great story! I think flopping around like a fish on the floor is a great way to respond to THE CROSSOVER! Or any other great book actually! I think you should send this story to Kwame! I bet he would appreciate it! (My middle schoolers have LOVED this book, by the way!)

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  6. Kimberley MoranApril 16, 2015 at 7:48 AM

    This is my life in my second grade classroom. I wonder how kids would grow if everyone let them respond the way they need to. Thanks for sharing!

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