5. One very loud and obnoxious girl, told the student teacher that taking ten points off for a late assignment was “stupid.” I asked the girl, “What if I said you were stupid for turning it in late when you had a three-day weekend to do it?” The student teacher was a little flustered after class because she said I called a student stupid. I explained, “I said ‘what if…’” Hypothetical statements are a teacher’s friend.
4. A like-able young man who has trouble expressing himself verbally asked two questions that tied for 4th, one during Halloween and one when I returned from paternity leave: “What are you going to be for Christmas?” and “Did you have a boy or a baby?”
3. Another tie: One bright young man came to class with an allergy mask on his face. When I told him to take it off, he refused. When I went to physically remove it, he stuffed the paper part in his mouth and chewed. He spit it in the trash a minute later. I win. The same bright boy wrapped rubber bands around his wrist until his hand turned purple. When I told him to take them off, he asked if he could put them around his neck. I win.
2. The student teacher didn’t show up for work the day before Thanksgiving break. She didn’t call, email, or contact me in any way. She got angry when I contacted her advisor. She had a “migraine.”
1. The very petite girl who sits in the front row called me to her desk and whispered, “Can you spray some air freshener? I accidently farted.”
