Check Yes or No

My heart leapt as I intercepted a 6th grade love note yesterday afternoon.

It was a "check yes or no" type letter with a twist. It read like this.

Do you like me? Are you gonna start paying more attention to me?

[ ] Yes to both
[ ] No to first
[ ] No to second
[ ] No to both

How to Take on Embarrasing Situations

I was teaching class today when I heard a student pass some gas. As a teacher, it's your job to hold it together. When students ignore the flatulence, I'm really good at ignoring it as well. After years of practice, I don't even break a smile anymore. ... usually.

Today, however, a student right in front of me passed some gas. I was preparing myself to ignore it, when the student looked me straight in the eye, smiled a huge grin, and (without a hint of embarrassment) said, "I'm sorry." After that, he went back to work.

I laughed so hard. What an honest/funny kid!

Parental Involvement

Open House was last week. I met many great parents who have great children.

Close to the end of the evening, a woman and her son came up to me. She told me that her son had been worried about math class. I told her that I would love to meet with him about his problems in math, but he had to come see me and let me know that he was having trouble... otherwise, I wouldn't know.

At that, she had a big smile on her face and turned to her son:

"See, boy, that's what I told you! If you're gonna get help, you gotta HOLLA EARLY, HOLLA OFTEN!"

Introduce Yourself

At the beginning of each year, I play a name game with my students. The game is pretty simple: find a word that describes you AND starts with the same letter as your first name.
Me?
Bubbly Ms. B

Some students?

Rockin' Aneesha
Gliding Kim
Pharoh Chris

(What happened to starting the word with the same letter as your first name?!?!!)

Trendy

Olivia (a student in my class last year) : Ms. B, your dress rocks.
Ms. B: Thanks, Olivia.
Olivia: You are wearing much cooler clothes this year. Your clothes are more trendy.

Mind Tricks

In one class, I have a
Kameron,
Kevin,
Kyle, and
Kris,
so I have a very hard time saying the right name with the right student.

One day, Kevin, a Vietnamese student, raised his hand.

Ms. B: Yes, Kris?
Kevin: Ms. B! It's Kevin!
Ms. B: Oh, Kevin, I'm so sorry! I can't beleive I mess that up so much.
Kevin: [frustrated; pounding his fists; trying to show me that the words kinda rhyme] Keh-VIN. A-SIAN.

Gullible

Deandre: Ms. B, why are there no teachers here who's name starts with an A?
Ms. B: Because we made sure not to hire anyone with a name that starts with an A.
Deandre: Why!?!
Ms. B: Because they're mean.
Deandre: What? Not always!
Ms. B: Mmmm hmmm.

Daniel: No, Deandre. The music teacher's first name is Ava!
Deandre: [looks at Ms. B] I believed you for a bit.