teaching opposites

This morning started with those high school kids.  It was a catch up day.  The ones who were caught up got to relax a little.  The ones who were behind were cajoled into getting their work done with my assistance.

One of my favorite parts of the class is when they come in and when they leave.  As long as I am not behind in preparation I like to make sure I say good morning to each one as they come in. They didn't know what to make of it at first.  Now each has his or her own way of responding and it's usually as they grab a snack for class.

My other favorite part is at the end of class as they leave.  I tell them they are my favorite part of my day and I love them and to have a good day.  There are eyerolls, smirks, and smiles.  I don't care.  They know I mean it however they respond.

At the end of the day I had a kindergarten class that needs to learn how to log into computers.  Except they don't really even know their letters.  Except the ones that their names start with.  It's impossible to tell the difference between zero and the letter O.  I say "find an R."  They say "what does it look like?"

I printed and laminated computer keyboards.  I passed out whiteboard markers and erasers.  And then we played "office" and they had to get to work finding letters and coloring in the boxes.

 I said "get to work or you'll be fired."

They ask "who's the boss?"

I answer "I am."

Then they begin to say "hey boss, hey boss hey boss."  It was cracking me up.

 They were getting a little squirrelly and I made them take a break at the imaginary water cooler.  I said "go stand in groups and talk about what you saw on television last night."  They looked confused, got up, went to the back of the room, looked at some of the pictures on the wall and started talking to each other but I don't know if it was about what they saw on tv.

I called them back to work "hurry hurry or you'll be fired."  One little guy said "are we almost done?  I'm tired."  I said "going to work is really hard you'll just have to deal with it."

It really was the most hilarious thing I've done in a while.