EAT!!!

Sometimes I really like my job as a teacher. Its the funny little things that occur that just make it all worth it sometimes. I was not in a good mood today. I've been suffering from a cold all week and was on the brink of losing my voice.

Fortunately the voice stayed and today, I decided I was out of the woods... The worst was over. It was a pretty short and sweet virus, starting on Tuesday, and almost gone by today. Lately, the viruses...(virii? what's the plural anyway?) I've been getting have been long-lasting little buggers. Anyway, for the last 3 days my voice was practically gone. My "innocent" little 4th graders kind of took advantage of me because of my inability to raise my voice in certain "disciplinary" circumstances.

Well, today my voice was "somewhat" back. We are on a 4-class rotation and my last class came in a little "off the wall" so I let 'em have it, especially a select few of them. The rest of the students quickly fell into line like perfect little duckies. The minute one of the students started to stray, my "raised" voice did not fail me. I was a junkyard dog today, barking orders here, chastising there, reprimanding here. I was on a roll.

I gave them their assignment, and they began working like nice little 4th graders. Not more than 5 minutes had passed when a couple of 3rd graders came into my room with a cupcake and a juice box. It was one of their birthdays and mom had delivered too many cupcakes. Since they have kind of taken a "liking" to me they decided to bring me one of the extra cupcakes and juice box. Awwww.. ain't that sweet? That isn't even the funny part. Anyway, I said thanks and they went back to their class.

Now my class was still quiet, but they were not focused on the work that they had been working on just before the interruption. They were focused on me, the cupcake, and the juice box. I wiped a little of the frosting off the top of the cupcake because it was just too much. I'm not a big frosting fan, but I digress. I peeled the paper wrapping around the cupcake, and all eyes were trained on me. I don't know what they expected to see. Had they never seen a grown up eat a cupcake before?

Anyway, their assignment was just a distant memory as their wide eyes and gaped jaws stared at me as I took a bite of the cupcake. When I noticed they were all looking, I glared at them, and in my junkyard dog-disciplinary-raised-voice, I said, "EAT!!!"

Of course, I meant to say, "WORK!!!". I was the one that was eating. Anyway, I quickly corrected myself and said, "Work!", but it was too late. Someone was already snorting, I was already grinning, and no doubt my face was probably red as well.

For all you non-teachers out there...when the teacher smiles, the gig is up. That's all she wrote. Time to hang up the towels. Soon, everyone was laughing. There was one girl in tears, she thought it was so funny. And, yeah, it was.

That's the best thing about kids, even the rough exterior ones that don't have the best home lives. They really are just kids. And they really are for the most part, innocent. And they know something funny when they see it (even though they still may not be able to grasp the concept of perpendicular lines). It was a good, and much needed laugh. There is too much tension right now with TAKS test on the horizon next week. They went home on a good note, and so did I.