First day of school

My 29 kids are wonderful! They are funny, well-behaved and intelligent. Of course there are a couple of kids that struggle with motivation, but there are no chatterboxes or exhibitionistic drama kings. Usually I leave my sarcasm and irony out when I teach 8^th grade, there are so many kids that don’t get it, and I don’t want to make them uncertain of me.  I think there is one that will outsmart me if I don’t have my antennas on around him.

After handing out and explaining the 3-levelled homework sheets, I told the kids how I had a hard time studying in middle school. I did well in class, but homework was overkill. I spent hours looking at the sheet of tasks for social science, math, religion, Norwegian, etc. I used to have candles on my desk, and next to the candle I had little plastic figurines. As I got more and more frustrated, the figurines lost a leg or an arm. At this point I had the kids’ full attention and they seemed to enjoy the story of my youth.

My homework would still be undone four hours later, and I then realized I need to manage time better. What I recommended the kids was to set 20 minutes off to do science homework, then 10 minutes English and then take a little break, for instance. That way their plastic figurines would be safe and they would be more efficient while doing homework. When I asked for the kids’ advice, one kid suggested rewarding yourself after achieving a specific goal.

The very same kid that volunteered study tips walked by my desk on the way out. He had a plastic bag in his hands. Another teacher had left a candle and a vase of flowers on the desk as a welcome gesture. The kid made sure I was looking and put the plastic bag close to the burning candle and pulled it away. I started to protest, then looked at him and saw the laughter in his eyes. “Aha”, I said, “that is because I told you about me burning plastic figurines while studying, isn’t it?”

The books that the kids need for their classes were already placed on their desks. The last kid that enrolled to my school (a few days ago), was really relieved and grateful when he found that he indeed gets to lean French. The alternative is Spanish that everyone wants to learn, or German that is a bit too easy due to the transparency to Norwegian words. The kids who chose to learn French are “la crème de la crème”. The kid with a matured sarcasm is also in the French group, and I am sure there will be more stories about his wit in the weeks to come.