We dismissed early today due to weather conditions. Our (actually quite wonderful) building principal announced the news at the end of 3rd period, clarifying the schedule and ensuring that we'd end the day AND ring the final bell at the same time. A senior student, standing directly behind me, voiced the obvious retort: "No shit." She profusely apologized for the language, only to explain that...really? Wasn't it obvious? You're joking, right?!
As we meandered through the rest of the day, an impossibility of being productive once the early release was announced, my students grew far more interested in idle chitchat than anything resembling work. It's what led to my story of a student offering religious pamphlets in exchange for each day I taught a lesson on Dante's Inferno. They're retort: you're joking, right?!
Nope, not joking. Nor am I joking when I tell you that, in an exercise to teach the steps of literary analysis, a group of honors (we use the term loosely, lol) English 11 students perused Green Eggs and Ham to find a...less-than-savory...interpretation. I'll allow you to extrapolate, but it led to the following label on my 3-year-old daughter's (shudder!) book:
You're joking, right?! Once again...nope. I could keep the stories rolling for hours (days?) when it comes to sharing the weird and wonderful experiences in my classroom.
But you know what else I could share? I could tell you about the kids who stop in to visit every morning just to say "hi". I could tell you about the kids who print memes for me to add to my classroom collection. And I could tell you about how funny, and kind, and witty are the adolescents in my classroom. You might doubt me. You might question my sincerity. To which I'd say...you're joking, right?!
These students are our future, and thank God for that.
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