Totes Strange

Today I heard some rather strange things that really made me think.  The statements themselves are not strange, but the fact that they came from the mouths of sixth graders shocked me!

One of my students, referring to another of his teachers said, "I like her class.  She has high expectations, and it feels like we're learning!"  He is a very low achiever in my class, so hearing something so profound and hopeful come from him was awesome.

The second strange thing I heard came from a girl who has consistently been a behavior/attitude problem this year.  (She has great penmanship, though, so I value her greatly! ha)  We have been taking vocabulary quizzes every week or so, and today was our quiz day. She is usually a C student, but today she scored 100%!  When I congratulated her later in the day, she asked, "When is our next quiz?"  I assumed that my answer would make her sigh and stomp off, but instead, she sighed and said "Ahhh...I wish it was sooner.  I really like studying now.  It's fun!"

Say whaaat?

Once I re-formed my melted heart, I realized that she has been going on to our class's Quizlet website- the site that I religiously update and push for my students to use as a study tool.  I thought only 3-4 of my AP kids were using it, but I was wrong!  

These students made me realize that the ones who act like they do not care, just need someone to give them a kick in the rear and push them to do their best.  They WANT us to have high expectations for them, and once they feel any bit of success, will do just about anything to feel that way again.  Yep. Even study.

Even though that last line sounds like a killer end to this post, I thought I would list 5 of my favorite weird things to do in the classroom:

1. Play tic-tac-toe with a student during a quiz
2. Refer to kids as "Homeskillet" (Ex: "Hey, Homeskillet, will you run to the office for me?")  
3. Throw plush balls at unsuspecting students
4. Use the words "totes" and "cray cray" (This makes the boys face-palm)
5. Talk in vocabulary words for several minutes  (See below)

Homeskillet, it is not APPROPRIATE to talk during class.  You were tardy because you DAWDLED in the hallway.  Don't you dare SCOWL at me.  I'll EVICT you from this room if you keep tapping your METALLIC pen.  Don't look so FORLORN; you are just PARANOID.

By the third word, they have realized what I am doing and are begging me to stop.  So I don't. :)  I could go on for days.

-Mrs. Combs