A Couple Thoughts About Today

Wednesday, September 18, 2024

How can it only be Wednesday? Work. Working every day makes the week go more slowly.

The potd is my 8th grade friend’s head. How great is it? I think he is terrific for feeling confident going a less usual way with his hair. TERRIFIC! And I think it looks great.

I’ve had two tough hours the last couple days – 5th and 6th (because no one ever wants you to have rough hours when you are fresh). I left the locked door closed before 5th hour, so they were stuck in the hall. It was very interesting. I was standing right there, repeatedly answering the question “Why is the door locked?’ (Because I want you to wait in the hall), yet at least 4 people pounded on the door and shouted, “Let us in.” Who did they think was in there? There is a window in the door. It looked like no one to me. A couple kids were very worried they would be marked tardy, even after I said they would not be marked tardy. (Who do you think they thought was going to make them tardy if it wasn’t me?) I spoke to the people in the front row around me and told them my expectations for when they went in the room – sit quietly, do the bellringer, wait silently for me to start class. I let those eight kids in. I repeated with the next ring. Then the next. And the next. I got to the last kid, who had been doing sprints up and down the hall and shouted at me that he wasn’t tardy. I explained my expectations and he went in.

The class was bonkers, just like the last two days. I put on my pretend mean voice and shut that down, hard. It was quiet. l pointed out that I had personally spoken to them and that they knew the expectations, that they were going to sit and listen and do math like regular students, and that was it.

And it worked.

Huh. The whole thing just helped me remember that 7th graders don’t always think like you want them to.

We went to see Beetlejuice Beetlejuice tonight. The lady behind us had a pretzel in a brown paper sleeve. She crinkled and crackled that brown paper more than I would have thought possible. It was ridiculous, and it went on and on and on. Keith finally gave up and asked her to try to crinkle less loudly. The sound stopped completely. Wouldn’t you think if you were crinkling loudly, you would try to stop? You would slide the pretzel out and use a napkin?

There was a kid talking during the movie, mentioning all the call backs to the original movie – “look! She got old” “Look! It’s the town model” etc. He was many rows behind us, but talking loudly enough to be heard clearly. If I were that kid’s parent (my kid wouldn’t be at Beetlejuice), I would have told him to be quiet.

I guess people don’t always think the way you want them to.