Story number one comes from the first day of this school year. One of my favorite books to read at the beginning of the year is called First Day Jitters. We were having a discussion about what it means to get jitters, and what kinds of things give us the jitters (spiders, snakes, thunderstorms, etc.). I had a new student come in in the midst of this discussion, so once she was seated at the carpet, I asked her if she could think of anything to add to the list. She looked thoughtful for a minute, and then said, "I have one." Her response?
"The po-po."
...right. So, I wanted to make sure I understood her, so I asked, as calmly as possible:
"The police?"
"Yeah, the po-po."
At this point, I'm not really sure how to respond, so I just say:
"Well, I suppose the police do make some people nervous..."
At this point, I'm hoping we can take the conversation in a different direction, but my new child says, with great emotion:
"Yeah...my daddy's runnin' from them AAALLL the time!"
(Awkward silence in which I debate if I should call child protective services but decide to just move on to someone else's answer.)
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Another anecdote from the beginning of this school year. I was giving a classroom tour, and I wanted to introduce my students to my writing center.
One of the things I'm really excited about is finding a repurposed use for my teacher desk. It merely served as a place where things piled up last year, so I decided this year to find a new way to use it. Hence, the super awesome writing center.
I wanted my kids to notice that this was a teacher desk, as I thought they'd be pretty excited about getting to use it. So during my classroom tour, I walked over to it, patted it lightly, and asked my students what they noticed about this table. I told them it was special and asked them to tell me what kind of table it is. In unison, 22 voices confidently said:
"Wood."
Well, they were technically right.
I guess I just need to be more specific when I ask my questions, huh?
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My job is pretty great. I hear all kinds of funny things, and I'll do my best to share them with you as they happen this year. I hope everyone is doing well, and I hope you had a chance to check out Shannon's blog party over at shannon*bear. There are some really great giveaways going on, so be sure to check it out. If you made your way here because of my post over there...welcome! I hope you enjoy reading about my adventures in third grade (and life in general).
Have a great evening--and an awesome week!
See you soon.
♥ Marlee
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