A couple of months ago, I wrote a piece in response to a @steemiteducation homework assignment. The assignment required you to write about the funniest thing that ever happened to you in your classroom. Although I had many to choose from, I settled on one involving a potato ricer.
Laugh it up while you can.
But I have been dying to tell my second favorite classroom story for months.
It is important to note that one of the biggest lessons I teach my high school students is that in life, you don't get to pick your bosses. This lesson pops up every time a student complains about one of their other teachers (I'm sure they never complain about me... to my face). I explain to them that all bosses are different and one of the lessons they are learning in high school is how to "get along" with bosses who have very different styles.
It's probably best for a boss to fall somewhere in-between these extremes.
Some bosses are all business and want your cubicle to be completely devoid of anything personal.
Some are super excited about everything and really want you to go above and beyond with the amount of flare one displays.
Others are jerks who want you to come in to do TPS reports on your day off.
Some are flat out mean.
Some don't care and will let you do whatever you want.
Some want to be your friend.
Some like to joke around when it is appropriate, but when it is time to get down to business, they have very high expectations of you. They believe in positive reinforcement and act more like a coach than a "boss".
Yoda was a funny teacher but he knew when to get serious.
I try to be that last one on the list.
And that is not saying my way is better than some of the others. It is just different. In fact, I think some students may not like how much I joke around. Some students are all business whileI am more like a mullet... business in the front... party in the back.
Exactly like my teaching style... god help those kids.
I can honestly see how some kids might think I am wasting valuable teaching time with my jokes. To them I would say the same thing I say to all of my students... "You need to learn how to interact with all kinds of bosses."
But that is my personality. I use jokes to help drive lessons, make examples, and gain and retain students' interests. Usually, I purposely weave in humor to help "edutain" my students. However, there are some times when the humor just happens.
This is the only way I would ever get applause in my class.
Being a clown who also believes in fair play, I think it is only right that I allow my students to appropriately joke around as well. As long as it adds to the working environment and does not stop the learning, I love it when my kids use humor. But this can sometimes lead to some misunderstandings. Sometimes I'm not sure if they are kidding or serious.
For example, one day when I was droning on and on about voodoo economics or some other nonsense, a couple of my students gasped. Wow! Had I really elicited such an emotional response from my excellent presentation skills? Had I finally reached them? Would they make a movie like Stand and Deliver based on me?
No time to think about that. I had to continue empowering the leaders of tomorrow.
I continued enlightening them on the Platt Amendment or some other life changing topic.
As I proceeded, several students pointed to the front of the room where I was standing. "Did you see that?!" One of them shouted.
Wow! They were really impressed with the map of Cuba I had just shown them. (The only thing better than learning about Cuba would be learning about Cuba and having some food.)
After sharing a few enthralling details of the Davis Agreement, all the associated treaties, and the American Revolution in particular, several students screamed.
I thought they were cheering.
Holy Smokes! This must be how the Beatles or Elvis felt when they were in front of a crowd. I was pretty sure at any moment the President of the School Board Unites States of America was going to burst and give me the teacher of the year award Medal of Freedom!
And then it happened.
As I was thanking the students for their outpouring of heartfelt support, a student said "No. A mouse just ran across the room."
Clearly they were messing with me.
I guess I was going to be just like Chewbacca... standing there like an idiot without a medal.
As I began to speak about the importance of them not participating in such shenanigans on my time, one student asked "If I'm here and you're here, doesn't that make it our time?"
As I was answering him, I saw it. A mouse really was running back and forth on the floor right behind me. It stopped behind a very heavy box containing a metal computer cart that I had put off assembling for nearly a year.
I decided to investigate. I leaned the box forward a little and peeked behind it. Sure enough, there was a mouse staring back at me with its beady little hate filled eyes (they need to be hate filled... trust me). Although I really wanted to jump on a desk and scream like Ned Flanders, I had to maintain my composure in front of my students. I slowly leaned the box back on top of the mouse, assured my student they would not be distracted by the rodent any more, and continued my lesson.
Shortly after, the bell sounded and all the students hurried away from the scene of the crime.
After they were gone, I walked over to the box, leaned it forward and saw this...
I'm not sure why it was wearing a karate outfit, but it really was flat as a pancake with one tiny spurt of blood coming from it's now paper thin body.
I learned two things that day:
My students are never that excited about my lesson.
You really can flatten a mouse like a pancake.