Imagine this start to my Thursday...

A young man waits outside a staffroom. He holds a single orange rose. He turns around expectantly every time the door opens. He waits nervously...with his parents. Now notice he is about three feet tall, walks up to you, hands you the flower, and says, "Sowwrrrry, miss." So what warranted this a.m. encounter?

Yesterday, I walk back into class from my lunch break and suddenly all the children are pointing at one child, whom we will call Ahmed, and keep repeating his name. Then I realize our hall supervisor is in the room too. She tells me he was running around the room, standing on the table, waving erasers and markers around in the air and throwing them at other children. So I crouch down in front of his chair to ask him why he did that and tell him not to do it again, and as I say, "Why did you do that?" He shakes his finger in my face and slaps me across the cheek. I had him out into the hallway like a shot. I gave out to him in such a way I doubt ANY child will ever try to pull such crap in my classroom ever again. They just stared at me in silence for the rest of the day. Thus his mother and father waiting in the hallway with a flower for me, making him apologize to me in English. At least they cared. And they apologized too. I have some parents who would do neither.

Then at the end of the day, I was reading The Little Gingerbread Man to them. There was total silence in the room and I had just finished reading "He ran, ran, ran, just as fast as he could but they could not catch him," when I hear one child in the back going, "Teacher, like Ahmed!" I almost DIED trying to contain my laughter. What a genius child.

Some small snippets from the week:

Miss Helen: This is Miss Patricia. Her classroom is next door. Right next door. Her classroom is the naughty classroom. She takes the naughty children. Do you want to go there? Do you?
Me: Do you want to come to my classroom? I can take you if you don't behave for Miss Helen. (Standing in doorway and looking very stern.) I will come back later to make sure you are behaving.

Three teachers have told me my kids are excellent. One came to my door today to borrow a storybook and she told me she is jealous of how good they are and asked me my secret.

The naughty classroom? Now the teaching assistants frequently bring children to my door and hold them up to the glass window. They look inside and I stare them down.

I am the teacher from the black lagoon. Full stop.