09 February 2012

There are many things to say about the life of a teacher. There are also many things not to say about the life of a teacher. You could say our lives are filled with sandwich crumbs, but most people wouldn't; not because it's not true, but because it's random and practically illiterate. You could also say our lives are hilarious, and hopefully that will be demonstrated with these stories. While the inspiration for them is accurate, I have no doubt but that I'll elaborate satisfactorily with them.
Yesterday I asked a student where his notebook was. His response? In his backpack.
'Well, what's it doing there?'
'It's resting Mr. Bennett. It's really tired after all the note taking we did yesterday.'
I mean, that's just a funny response. How could I keep from laughing?
On the same day I had a student wad up a piece of paper from the back row, throw it in the direction of the trashcan, watch it veer to the side from the breeze of the open window, bounce off the back of the head of an unsuspecting girl sitting in the front row, ping off the wall, and land in the trash can. It was an unbelievable shot and I witnessed the whole account. He looked up at me in amazement and I wanted to scold him for throwing paper and for hitting the girl who was actually paying attention, but the shot was so impressive all I could do was give him a high five and say to the girl, 'Too bad your head was turned, you just missed an incredible shot!'
I try to add as much humor and good naturedness into my classroom as possible, while still staying within the bounds of a respectable learning environment. It's a very tricky feat to accomplish.
In one particular lesson I was using thumbtacks as random objects to teach about ratios. I asked for two volunteers to come up (7th graders loooove to volunteer in class). When they arrived at the forefront of the room I spread the thumbtacks across the floor and asked them to take off their shoes and have a race across the spikes. One of my willing students knew I was kidding and just rolled her eyes. The other one, however, thought  I was being serious (which really begs the question about what this kid thinks is going to happen when he comes to class every day). He looked up at me in disgust and said, "No Thanks Mr. Bennett. I didn't realize that's what we were volunteering for; someone else can take my place" and then sat down. Man, these kids are hilarious.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Who knew that the 'life of teacher' is full of spontaneousness and that you're teaching a future comedian, NBA player, and lawyer. Also, the girls could equally have worthwhile careers, even the one hit in the head.

PS: here's a cool motorcycle fit for Asia (helmets please); http://i.imgur.com/aHeVL.gif

- An Independent Mormon Angkor,
Future Farmer