Thursday, April 28, 2011

Something new everyday

In the midst of a whole group interactive writing lesson I looked out to see Pixie holding the top of her skirt out in front of her with one hand while she dropped a handfull of crayons into the opening. Since they didn't fall out I assume she had decided to hide them in her underwear.

In astonishment I asked her to remove them using the vaguest language I could. I didn't want the rest of the class to fall into giggles over the incident, or embarrass Pixie. It took about 3 minutes to communicate to her that I knew she'd put crayons down her pants and that she needed to remove them, all while trying to keep a straight face..3 more minutes for her to comply.

I have no idea what she was thinking. It couldn't have been comfortable to keep them there all day. Did she have a special reason to hide crayons? And why during whole group instruction? She could probably get away with sneaking crayons into her pants during independent worktime, but on the carpet? When she's sitting right up front?

I love my job. It's never, ever boring and you never know what to expect.

4 comments:

turtlemama said...

Why?

Because they were there.


Sometimes you have to just leave it at that.


Your blog makes my day.

sarah

Alex T. Valencic said...

Just found your blog, and I love it! I work as a substitute teacher, and I will never cease to be amazed by the things that students do.

Just today I had a 6th grade boy who, in the midst of taking notes on a history chapter about Japan, started chewing on his notebook paper. When I asked him why, he replied, "I like paper."

By the way, can I take your ED blogging policy and adapt it for my blog?

magpie said...

It's a Parenthood thing,
Make you mark!
☺☺☺

organized chaos said...

Alex, you are more than welcome to use my ed blogging policy and adapt it for your blog.
I've had 1st graders eat paper- didn't know they still did that in 6th grade. Wow.