Friday, March 16, 2007

Third period drought

The back-story:
There is a drinking fountain about six feet from the door of my classroom, so I let kids get a drink pretty much whenever they want, but they DO have to raise their hands and ask.
And also, I have a class of all seventh graders during fourth period.

The story:
During a presentation of new vocabulary in 4th period today, approximately half my students, one at a time, raised their hands and asked if they could get a drink of water. Since I kept thinking that they were raising their hands to answer my questions about the new vocab, I kept calling on them and having the flow of class totally interrupted. GRR. Finally I said, "What is the deal?! Was there a DROUGHT in 3rd period today??" to which all my students, at the top of their voices, responded, "YES!" So I said, half-kidding, "Shall we just ALL go get a drink??" to which all my students, at the top of their voices, responded, "YES!"

So we took 3 minutes of class time for them to quietly pile into the hall and get a drink, which is fine with me, if it allows class to carry on without 25 individual requests to go get a drink.

I was attempting to restart class by saying, "Now that we're all well-hydrated..." when one of my students piped up, "Now I have to go to the bathroom!"

...

2 comments:

Danielle said...

It almost sounds like you're teaching 7-year-olds, not 7th graders! ;)

Just kidding. It sounds like you're doing marvelous job teaching (which, of course, comes to no surprise).

Good to see a post on your blog. How's this Thesis? You graduate with your Masters in less than six weeks! What's up and coming for you, now?

KATE said...

That is a fabulous story! That is so normal, and I think of all the crap I did to my poor teachers when i was in 7th grade, count your blessings. If you ever want me to prove that to you, I'll tell you some stories!!
Love ya - Kate