Adventures in Teaching

Adventures in Teaching: David and his Desk

Our routine is well established at this point, the kids enter my classroom and grab their writing journal. They find their assigned seat and begin working on the writing prompt that is on the front board while I take attendance.

"Derrick" I call out.

"Here", he replies.

"Jessica", I say.

"Here", she replies.

"David", I say. No response. "David?"

Still nothing.

I look up and notice that David is not here. Late again. I swear I had seen him in the hall earlier today. "Did David get dismissed?" I ask the class.

David, a floppy haired, lanky, friendly student is often absent or runs late to my class. A good student and a polite kid, I like David. However, sometimes I get frustrated by his never-ever-in-a-rush-to-do-anything attitude.

"No he stayed late with Mr. Smith to finish some work" Jessica offered. "Okay" I replied feeling mildly annoyed, "Then, let's begin".

I moved to the white board at the front of my class, as my students put closed their journals and opened their notebooks. I don't remember specifically what this lesson was about, but I do remember it started with a short lesson and some notes on the whiteboard. Then it moved into a class discussion. I remember walking around the classroom, calling on students and engaging them in the discussion. At some point things were going so well that I sat down on one of the desktops and was encouraging the students to continue discussing the topic.

Then the door slowly opens and there's David. With a big smile on his face, he nonchalantly saunters in. I realize I am sitting on his desktop. I slide off his desk, knowing he will be heading to his assigned seat.

At this point I think maybe he wouldn't want to work on a desktop where I was just putting my bottom, so I say, "Hey David, why don't you sit here today?" motioning to an empty desk in the classroom.

Every student has stopped talking now and is watching this interaction.

"Why?" he says completely oblivious.

The students all turn to me.

"Well I didn't think we'd see you this class, and I was just sitting on your desktop" I respond.

All eyes turn back to David.

"Oh" he says and then he leans over and places his nose on his desktop. Then deeply and audibly, inhales for at least a good full 10 seconds.

All of us are watching, dumfounded.

Next David looks up and says, "It's okay. It's not too bad", as he places his books on his desktop and takes his seat.

Silence.

If this was a cartoon and not real life, student's eyes would be popped out of their sockets and their mouths would have been open so wide that their chins would rest on their desktops. I would have turned beet red and then fainted.

As this was not a cartoon, and this really did just happen. I am astonished. I am floored. Absolutely amazed, and my face probably was pretty red.

All eyes are back on me. They are watching, waiting for my response.

I know my response to this comment is going to determine if the rest of this class (and perhaps the entire day) is a success or a complete and utter disaster.

I pause for a good minute to collect myself.

Then I simply move on with my lecture, pretending nothing at all unusual just occurred. The students, thankfully, followed my lead - though I expect there was quite a lot of storytelling in the lunchroom that day.