Thursday, June 6, 2019

Revenge is Sweet


Seventh grade science. It was a one-off period for me, and it appeared that the teacher was only out for that period plus the following. The kiddos were supposed to be working on study guides for their finals.

Being seventh graders, they came in from lunch a bit wild. I warned them to sit in their assigned seats. But, I got howls from various kiddos that their seats were not vacant. One small, timid boy informed me someone was in his seat and would not give it up.

So, I went to intervene.

The girl was downright rude about it. She was new to the class, in her assigned seat, and the boy was a snitch. Some profanity was sprinkled in to this whole thing.

The boy did get his seat. I got a glance at the girl's paper so I could let her teacher know who was so difficult. (The seating chart was far from accurate, which is probably why the teacher had hidden it from me. That's a whole other story.)

I kept an eye on Yesenia for the rest of the period, but she kept it to kicking with her two buddies. She was not the only one. Considering the year is just about over, I was impressed at how calm they mostly were.

Then one of Yesenia's buddies pulled out some bottle of something. I nixed them spraying that, so the girl pulled out a lotion instead. I don't know why Yesenia tasted it. But then she needed to wash it off her hands... ??? I was sitting there, watching, and I still am not sure what she got on her hands.

Yesenia walked over to the teacher's bench to clean off her hands. It's a science room, so the demonstration bench has a sink in it. She took some soap from a container, rubbed it in, and then went to turn on the faucet.


Most classrooms are in dire need of an update. I generally assume sinks are non-working unless told otherwise.

As Yesenia was doing the above, the other students explained a few things. First, they warned Yesenia not to use the soap. Apparently their teacher had warned them that it was not soap. Or it was soap for the desks. I don't know if they knew.

Second, the students said the sink didn't work.

The "soap" was a weird coppery color, and Yesenia said it smelled weird. And with no water to rinse it off...

I allowed her to leave the room to find water to rinse off her hands. Upon her return, she complained of redness and discomfort. Not burning, exactly, but it wasn't a nice feeling.

Am I terrible for laughing on the inside? I can't tell you how often students ask me questions that I already explained to them, stuff like "the assignment is due at the end of the period". They don't listen. So, I thought it fitting that Yesenia had missed something the teacher had obviously told them.

I did write Yesenia a pass to the health office. I may have thought she got what she deserved, but I have no idea what was in that container, and whether she had an allergic reaction or it was stuff that was not good for skin, she needed assistance so that it did remain a funny story (and not become some tragic accident).

21 comments:

  1. What a goofball! You have the patience of Job. ~grin~ Be well!

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  2. You don't mess around in a science room.

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  3. At least it starts out as a refreshing day for you even if problems emerge but like rattlers in a cage, even they get bored with each other.

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  4. Well, it LOOKS like Dr. Bronner's, but apparently it isn't. I wonder why the teach doesn't mark the bottle with some kind of skull and crossbones or whatever as a visual reminder...

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    1. He probably should have. I guess he thought telling them was enough.

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  5. The teacher should probably change the label on that stuff. But yeah, the girl got what she deserved.

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  6. You're so good at your job to let this just end as a funny story. ;)

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  7. Maybe she learned something from her actions.

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  8. Not terrible at all! Terrible would have been not letting her get help for washing her hands with acid. or whatever. Funny story.

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    1. Oooh, it might have been acid... I hadn't considered that.

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  9. Think Yesenia is a candidate for the continuation school down the line? I'm thinking she might be.

    betty

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  10. My thoughts are like yours, maybe the discomfort is what she deserved and like you sending ot the health office is a good choice....however I have to ask, what is the soap doing laying out if its not soap? Things like the teacher not being and someone unknowing using it could be bad. You could have needed to wash your hands yourself.

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    1. I wouldn't wash my hands in the classroom, but that is a good point.

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  11. i would be laughing as well...maybe on the outside:). I am glad she did go to the washroom to clean it off and am glad she didn't wipe her eyes or nose with it still on.

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    1. It felt icky enough to her for her not to attempt that sort of thing.

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  12. The teacher shouldn't have something like that where the students can get to it. Granted the girl shouldn't have used the product her teacher told her not to use in the first place. But whatever. Hopefully everything turned out ok…

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    1. Most of the time, the students are forbidden to touch the teacher's stuff on the teacher's table. Some teachers are stricter with this rule than others. But just generally, they should leave the teacher's stuff alone.

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  13. I wonder if she learnt anything from that episode? Probably not, that sort never do.

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