...haircut...

I got a haircut last week.

As a teacher, that means you will have hundreds of comments over the next few days.  Not necessarily compliments, but comments.  This isn’t because students are rude or do not like it; it is because they are not very good at giving compliments.

The day after the haircut, each class was constantly interrupted with, Did you get a haircut? asked by various students one after another…within seconds of each other. 

Today a student popped into my classroom and said, Miss OG, you got your haircut!  You look better with long hair.  But you still look good.

(Note:  Many students call me Miss OB.  This student calls me Miss OG because I am the Original Gangsta.)

In one class today, while my students were working, I was typing.  A few students noticed that I was typing quite quickly and not looking at the screen.  This is amazing to them.  One student even got up to stand behind me, and asked me to look away and keep typing.  He was so impressed that I was actually typing words.  Not only that, I knew when I made a mistake and backspaced without looking at the keys or screen.

The response from the student who had first noticed my typing skills:  You are a GREAT woman!  

My response, after I recovered from reactive laughter:  Well, you are a great kid…sometimes.

Later a student stopped in after she had lunch.  She said hi then took a look at the pictures on what I call my STUD WALL.  I just call it that because I abbreviate student as stud & it is a wall full of pictures of students.  So this student was looking for pictures that she was in.  Before leaving, she said, Yeah, I’m a stud.  I get it from my mom.  

...proximity...

One age-old trick teachers have in addressing poor behavior is proximity.  When a student is not making wise choices when it comes to behavior, often simply getting closer to them will help them to clean up their act.

I certainly use this technique on a consistent basis.  I think some students practically expect me to teach while standing next to their desks.

Today I was applying the proximity principle with one particular student.

At one point he said he wanted to see my ring while I was standing next to his desk.  So, as I continued leading the discussion/notes, I lifted my hand so he could see the ring and what is written on it.  As I was talking, he proceeded to try to take the ring off of my finger.  Of course I didn't want him to take it off, so I simply bent my finger to make that a challenge.  He proceeded to use both hands in attempt to pry my hand open....mind you, I am still teaching.  Eventually he gave up, saying, You got a MAN grip Miss O'Brien!


I just looked at him, nodded, took my hand back, and continued with the conversation how how to revise a paper.

Then he started flicking my scarf.  That's right, he was flicking it.  But it didn't really distract me, I kept going.  At one point he asked, Why is one side longer than the other?  So, in order to appease him, I adjusted my scarf so that both sides were hanging at equal lengths.  There is fringe at the ends of the scraf I am wearing today.  The student grabbed the scarf and put the fringe in his face.  Surely he was trying to see how it would distort the image of his friend across the room.

This student seemed to really be longing for my attention today.  Soon he began to "hit" my elbow repeatedly.  You know, kind of like swinging his arm to casually flip it with his finger.  I tried to keep going...but the other students' faces told me that they didn't know how I could keep going with this happening.

I don't know....I guess this must be what a mom feels like when her child is pulling on her shirt, grabbing her legs, and repeating her name over and over while she is in a deep conversation with a friend.  The mom can just continue on without a problem until the child is appearing to distract her friend from what is being discussed.

I walked away from his desk for a little while.

...interactive t-shirt...

I'm standing at my door in the hallway during  a passing period.

Two freshmen boys are walking towards me.

Student 1:  Hey Miss O'Brien, play his t-shirt!

Me:  What?

The students stop in front of me.  Student 2 is wearing a t-shirt with a keyboard on it.

Student 1:  Play his shirt!

He reaches over to Student 2's shirt and starts "playing" the keyboard.  It actually makes noise.  He was really playing his t-shirt!

Me:  Wait, do you have some sort of battery attached to your shirt????

Student 2:  No...(he pulls something out from under his t-shirt).  It's an amp.

The student has a keyboard t-shirt with an amp that actually plays music.

He ordered it online.

...reading a dictionary...

Okay, so I'm a nerd and proud of it.  I unabashedly claim my nerdiness to my students, and encourage them to embrace who they are as well.

Tonight my nerdiness is being rivaled....

My roommates and I are just sitting around, talking, watching Rocky, laughing, emailing, reading, etc.

I picked up my book, thinking I might actually be able to read a few pages.  From the couch across the room I hear, ooohh!


I looked over...in astonishment, I exclaim: Are you reading the DICTIONARY???


Uhhhh...yes, I am!


No way!  No one actually reads the dictionary!  Sometimes I tell my students I do, just because I know they will believe me, but no one actually reads it!


Other roommate: She does this all the time.




Here are some things I have been hearing since I picked up my computer:

A heifer is a young cow.  Other roommate chips in: usually a female.


Fussbudget means one who fuss or is fussy about trials.


Did you know a flock of geese is called a gaggle?


Other roommate: Do you know what a flock of crows is called?  
Me: a craggle, obviously.
No, a murder.


Well, she is still flipping through the pages of her Miriam Webster Pocket Dictionary, but hasn't been sharing for awhile.  Maybe she is in the X's....

...what I mean is...

Tonight was definitely a time to laugh.

A little back story, without getting into the details too much:  I am helping a university student with his school fees in Uganda.  He has become like a little brother to me.  A friend of mine (who will soon be traveling to Uganda) has agreed to deliver a computer to him for me.

Tonight my roommates accompanied me to Wal-Mart in order to buy a computer bag for my little Ugandan brother.  In this particular Wal-Mart, there seemed to be a lack of organization in the electronic department.  The three of us had separated as we looked around.  Melissa decided to find an associate and ask him where to look.  Just about the same time he was pointing her towards a few options, I had spotted them and was on my way there too.

As I'm looking through the various black options, the associate comes back with a pastel purple bag with butterflies and swirly pink & purple designs.  Right then, Megan approaches the action while I say, Well, I'm looking for a man.


Everyone else realizes what I have just said before I do.

Apparently "the man" that is helping us reacts as if to see if he qualifies, signaling that he does, however, have a few gray hairs.  Maybe he was trying to see if I thought he was too old for me.

As I realize what I have just implied, I tried to recover.  Well, I mean, I'm not looking for a man.  Errr, I, uhh, I need a bag for a man...


The man was still showing me the purple bag that my six-year old niece would probably love.

What I mean is.....I don't want the purple one.  Well, he wouldn't want the purple one.  I mean, this one is good.  (I was holding a nice black one.)

The rejected man walked away.



So, when funny things like this happen, we tend to keep repeating it, as if we weren't all there for the original event.  Somehow, it keeps getting funnier with every retelling and variation we create...

We went to get ice cream.  As we waited for our ice cream creations to get mixed (which they didn't actually mix), we continued to crack ourselves up about how I said I was looking for a man.  After a few minutes, we giggled away, walking out with ice cream to enjoy as we drove through an icy night.

But as we turned to leave, we noticed a man in a booth by himself laughing at us, and giving us a creepy sort of smile.  He had clearly been listening to us joking....

Maybe he was hoping he might be the kind of man I was looking for.

...are you gonna blog about me?...

Well, the blog has leaked out.

Some students now know the link and are enjoying the stories....

So I took a few students on a leadership field trip this week.  Throughout the day I heard, so are we going to make it on the blog?  Are you going to blog about me?  I wanna say something funny so I'll get one the blog!


Today the same student came into my room, Did you blog about me yet?  I haven't checked yet!


They are getting as bad as Mr. Smith across the hall with his attempt to make it onto the blog with lame jokes.

Well, there you go....you've both officially made it....

It's just not the same when you ask for it, is it?

Don't worry you two, I'll keep looking for a more authentic reason to blog about you.  I'm sure your day will come.

...I smell good...

I put some lotion on my hands (not the one I wrote about before that my friend gave me and I was giving students, this is my good stuff) at the beginning of class while my students were working on their bellwork assignment.
A few minutes later I was passing back papers.  When I got to one student's desk she started sniffing really deeply & loudly.  You know, the kind of sniffs that cause your whole body to move.
Student:  You smell so good!  (sniff sniff)  You just smell so good!  (turns to other student) You should smell her; she smells really good!
Other student:  What?  Weird!  I'm not smelling her!
Student:  No, just ask her something and she will come over to your desk and you can smell her.  (sniff sniff)  She smells so good!


I walked away to continue to pass back papers to other students.

...mama bear...

Story #1 of the day

Student:  We should all call you Mama Bear.

Before I could respond, another student asks my question:  Why a bear?

Student:  Because a mama bear is really protective of her cubs.  (She then demonstrates this idea by turning her hands into claws.)  Yeah, I'm gonna call you Miss Mama Bear.  Can I write it on my papers?

She proceeded to tell me that I should teach other classes because she wants to have me again after she is done with her freshman year.  (I only teach freshmen, well for all practical purposes.)  That was nice.

Story #2 of the day


I have a student who sits near my desk.  I put him there for strategic reasons, but it seems to be backfiring.  He can't quite keep his hands off of anything he sees on my desk.  Twice in the past couple of weeks he has found himself taking apart a small, metal, vintage-looking fan that sits on the corner.  It's like it's impulsive.  One time I said something to him while the cage of the fan was in his hands and it was as if I woke him from a trance...he looked at the piece of metal in hands as if he was trying to figure out how it got there.

Well today I was standing near him while talking to the class.  The next thing I know he has taken a piece of scotch tape off of my tape dispenser and put it on my back.  Don't bother asking why, it really isn't worth attempting to determine the reasoning.  So, I turned to give him a questioning look.  He made some comment about how it said "kick me."  Obviously it didn't actually say it; he just wanted a reaction.  I proceeded to continue whatever it was I was saying to the class without doing anything about the tape.  A few seconds later he interrupts me, Can you please take the tape off of your back?  I know you know it's there, but you're not doing anything about it.  That's really bothering me.


I think that may have been a sly trick I learned from having older brothers.  Years of my parents telling me to just ignore it are finally paying off.