It's that time again. Time to share a story from that 8th grade science class from a month ago now. Since I talked about Brian last week, I thought I'd share what he got up to on the day he was in class. And his partner in crime was one of the students from my first week of school. (Several students in these classes I knew from the first week. I don't know if that made things easier for me or harder.)
I was doing something else when I heard the commotion. Brian and JD were tussling over a ruler. Each had both hands on it, trying to claim it for himself.
I was across the room. Naturally. (They were in the last two desks in the top right hand corner of the picture.) I headed for them immediately.
I also called out for them to stop. Which they didn't hear or ignored. (Considering the noise level in the room, "didn't hear" is a likely option.)
I tried to get to them, but couldn't. It's like one of those dreams where you're walking in water or stuck in quicksand. Five different students got in my way, either physically as they were up and roaming or just with questions. Stuff I had to ignore if I was going to...
CRACK!!!
The ruler broke in half. (I was going to take a picture, but it didn't show up very well. It wasn't a clean break. The wooden ruler was kind of bent, but splintered, so dead ruler.)
That's when I got to them. Took the broken ruler from them. Informed them they had detention and just lost all "ruler privileges". (The teacher said any names left by me got detention, so at bare minimum that's what they got.)
"But we need a ruler to do the assignment."
Tough. They just broke one of the few that were left.
As I read this, I tried remember what it was like to be in the 8th grade. Tussling over a ruler seems immature for 14 year olds, but maybe it’s my faulty memory???
ReplyDeleteVR Barkowski
That sounds perfectly eighth grader-like to me. They're not exactly the pinnacle of maturity and sharing.
ReplyDeleteGot what they deserved!!
ReplyDeleteWell, if their teacher gave them a long detention, then they did.
DeleteLiz, could it be that's what they were hoping for...to break the ruler? Your students are never boring. lol
ReplyDeleteI bet you felt like smacking the ruler over their heads... lightly of course.
ReplyDeleteNot lightly. But I resisted the urge.
DeleteSilly boys, really they will fight over anything won't they? And sadly things do not really improve, they just get older and greyer.
ReplyDeleteYep, they will fight over anything.
DeleteIn 8th grade and still haven't learned how to share!
ReplyDeletebetty
Yeah, well, this is par for the course for 8th grade boys. I wasn't terribly surprised.
DeleteWell, they got what they deserved. They are lucky they were not in the school i went to eons ago as the strap was still common place or getting the ruler across the hands.
ReplyDeleteSeems like this is something younger kids would do. Very childish for 8th grade.
ReplyDeleteNope, this is exactly the way 8th graders behave with a sub. I've seen them do worse.
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