Friday, December 5, 2008

ch-ch-ch-changin'

flashback to my first year teaching. we're reading a story called the emperor's egg. it was about penguins. think march of the penguins without morgan freeman narrating. this is pre-penguin documentary. i'm trying to explain how the male penguins transport and protect the eggs. i have an egg between my ankles, demonstrating how they slide down hills. on their bellies. laying on top of desks, tyler walks in from his reading group, does a double take, and says, "i'll wait outside."

marvelass. that's how i tend to teach, jumping on desks and such. can't do that this year. or last. one little guy that can't handle that sort of excitement.

today, that changed. i challenged my math class to get all their work right. boring work, but it got them motivated. the prize? push-ups by the teacher. long story short, i owed them 25 push-ups at the end of class. you'd think that i played tag on the playground or raced them to the fence and back or shaved my head for charity.

nah, i'd never do anything like that...

1 comment:

Tim said...

The best teachers are the ones willing to make an ass out of themselves for their kids. Plus they are the ones they remember later in life. But the proverbial "one kid" I had, ran into the Alaskan woods alone after he heard there was a bear kill that morning....stresses in confined classrooms are now put into perspective.