Ants in Your Pants and Jumping Jacks
I arrived at my classroom this morning and told my students to put away everything except for a pen. I told them we were having a quiz and that they had 10 minutes to complete it. I told them "do your best" and passed them out.
This was the quiz:
Getting to Know You Quiz
Directions: Read the entire quiz first. Follow the directions given. You have 10 minutes to complete this quiz.
- Write your age _____.
- Write your shoe size __________.
- Write the name of the President of the US _____________.
- Call the name of a friend in class, wave to them, and say hello.
- Stand up and shake someone's hand.
- Get two others to tell you their favorite color. Write the colors here:
- Walk to the front of the room and touch the board.
- Stand up and pretend you have ants in your pants
- Put your head on the desk and take a 10 second nap. Great job! You're almost half way there!
- Give a high five to two people you haven't talked to yet.
- Say your middle name out loud.
- Add 237, 4992, and 531. Answer: ______
- After you write the answer to #12, say "Yes! I'm so smart!"
- Sit down and stand up 10 times as fast as you can. Record your time here:
- Print the name of the planet you live on:
- Write the name of your favorite food here:
- Say "yummy, yummy in my tummy" out loud.
- Look at the person beside you and tell them something nice.
- Stand up and do 10 jumping jacks. Encourage others to join you.
- Don't follow any of these instructions. Just watch everyone else make a fool out of themselves and sit quietly until time is up.
Would you like to guess how many people had ants in their pants? Would you like to guess how many people yelled out, "Yes I'm so smart"? Oh people, if I had only been able to videotape it without them knowing something was up, I would have because it was quite amusing.
I figured I would start getting questions early in the quiz, but I was wrong. You wouldn't believe how many of my students eagerly went about each task, without a thought as to why I would have them do such a thing.
The first question I had was from one of the many students returning to their seat after touching the the board. His question was, "How am I supposed to do 'ants in my pants'?" I responded with, "Well, if you had bugs in your pants, it would probably be itchy." He nodded and wiggled his butt back to his seat. One of my freshman girls who read the entire quiz first, as instructed, had to hold her mouth shut while she shook and tried not to laugh out loud.
My next question came at question 15. "Do you want a serious answer to number 15?" he asked. "Be as serious as you need to be," I responded with a straight face.
Five of my students got it right from the beginning and found it quite amusing that there were students high-fiving them, calling their names out loud and asking them their favorite colors. I should note here that I told Mr. BBM this morning that I would have four follow directions and I had chosen my four well. The fifth one was an oversight on my part. I should have known. The ones who followed the instructions kept straight faces, all except for the girl who could barely hold it in, and one boy who sat in the back row grinning from ear to ear as he watched his classmates wiggle, high-five, and do jumping jacks.
I figured it was going to go one of two ways. They, those that were busy making fools of themselves, were either going to get mad or they would take it in a light-hearted way. Either way, they received the message loud and clear. Follow DIRECTIONS already!!!
About half of the kids stopped about half way through; yelling out their middle names was a bit much for some of them and they caught on. Others plugged through without a care in the world. Two who made it all the way through cracked up laughing at themselves as they finished. One kid laughed so hard he snorted.
I asked them if they were finished, grinned mischievously and explained why we had done this little exercise. This silly quiz drove the point home loud and clear.
After class, I had several students stay to ask for some help and make sure they were on the right track. I'm not saying I won't get another late assignment. The three kids who blew off class today obviously have missed this important lesson. But I like to think that me and the 17 who were there today, now have a mutual understanding. I want them to learn, and I want them to have fun while doing so, but I'm no push-over and I won't tolerate late assignments.
By the end of class today, I think it was pretty clear that at least those in attendance have been brought to my side. It's a good feeling. We'll see if I can make it last.
How would you have done on my silly quiz? Be honest!
Laying Down the Law
This semester, I spent an entire class talking about how to create a good speech outline. Last semester, I figured I was dealing with college kids. Point them to the page in the book and give them a handout and they should be good to go.
I was very wrong.
So, I spent a ton of class time on it this time around. I gave them a handout. For the other assignment due today, I did the same thing. I specifically said last week,
"This is what I want. . . "
"This is what I DON'T want. . . "
I said it at least three times. I told them to consult their syllabus. I told them to email me with any questions or concerns.
Ugh.
Today, I collected the papers and outlines of people who clearly do not follow directions well. In addition, the girl who missed my class on Thursday, the one who emailed me, the one I told exactly what we did in class, and what she needed to do for today, came empty-handed.
"I didn't know those things were due today," she said.
I couldn't help myself. She was the third person to tell me this in the span of five minutes. I threw my head back, let out an audible groan, and pulled out the syllabus. "See this thing! It's right here in bold. I also talked about it last Tuesday AND Thursday. In addition, you got an email!!!"
She shrugged and sat down. I hate this part of the semester, where you have to let the kids know that your policies are your policies and that's that. You have to let them know you're no push-over. There are going to be some seriously unhappy campers on Thursday when they see they have half credit for handing in a late assignment. It's on the syllabus and I talked about it in class. They're going to have to deal.
I also had three students not show up today. One has never showed up, despite adding my class last Wednesday. Those three are off to a fantastic start. I can always tell within the first two weeks who's going to step up and go for the A and those who are going to flat out fail.
So frustrating, but Thursday is definitely looking like "lay down the law" day.
90% Back
I went back to the gym tonight and met with my trainer again. I swear in the three weeks I've been out, he has been working out extra. It looked like someone inflated his arms. When I told him he was holding out on me and asked him what he's been doing, he jumped up, grabbed the pull-up bars and did 15 pull-ups easily.
"Hmm," I said, "and I can't even do one unless you're holding 90% of my body weight."
He laughed. "Let's go girl. Let's get you back." He spent the next 40 minutes annihilating my biceps and triceps. For the first exercise, he handed me one of those straight bars that you're supposed to put weights on. "Girl, can you curl this?" he asked as he gently handed it to me. As I was taking it from him, he said, "it's 40 lbs."
I really wanted to lift that bar, but it was next to impossible. My legs are strong but my arms are still lagging behind. I moved it a couple inches and looked at him with pleading eyes, "I'm thinking this isn't going to happen" I told him.
A woman who was working out nearby, with arms like a body builder started laughing out loud. "I had faith in you! I thought you were going to do it!" she yelled across the floor.
"Yeah, well that's because I still have my sweatshirt on," I told her. "Wait until you see my spaghetti arms." She cracked up again and I announced that I'm happy my weakling arms can be of some amusement to someone.
My trainer handed me the 30 lb. curling bar for what he calls "21's." I call them pure hell. I was relieved I could do it with 30, but grateful when he handed me the 20 lb. bar after a couple sets.
It is absolutely amazing how much you lose in the way of progress when you take a couple weeks off. My trainer assured me that the longer I work out, the less I'll fall back when I take a break. I just need to keep putting more time in.
I pushed it as hard as I could tonight, avoiding anything where I would have to kneel and felt good when my arms felt like jello and I could barely straighten them at the end of our session. I didn't think about my knee once the entire time except for when I told him those kneeling dips were out.
We saved abs for last, as usual, and tonight my trainer had some new torture for me. He did it all with me and I kept up just fine with him. That's the one thing I haven't let slide these past few post-surgical weeks. It was only a few days after surgery and I was sitting on the floor with my medicine ball, working it out. He told me he was impressed and that even if my arms are lagging behind, my core is getting stronger every day.
He told me he's got an arsenal of new things for me in the weeks to come. I'm excited to get to them.
When I was exchanging some work-out clothes from Christmas the other day, I was looking for some new t-shirts for the gym. There was one Nike one, part of the Live Strong clothing line. It said on the front "100% back."
I was so tempted to get it. Even if I don't wear it right away, I could keep it aside until I am 100% back. I held off though. I don't want to jump the gun and get ahead of myself. I'm 90% back. I'll find that shirt again when I'm ready. I'm going to be ready soon.
No Crazies Allowed
There are only a handful of lots left in our housing development. One is right beside us and it's a fabulous lot. The same size as ours, it backs directly to the park. It's going to have a perfectly flat back yard and I was puzzled as to why it wasn't selling.
It could just be that the guys don't have anything better to do than transfer dirt from one lot to another today, but they are completely clearing it today and taking the dirt and rocks elsewhere.
While I'm excited about having an actual house beside us instead of a dirt pile, getting new neighbors is always a bit nerve-wracking. Maybe it's because I used to live next to the local Britney Spears, but I know that one bad neighbor can really wreck things for you.
I started thinking about how weird it's been living here, with no crazy neighbor to speak of and I started to reminisce. Everyone around here is very normal and extremely nice. They also read my blog (Hi neighbors!), so I wouldn't tell you if it were otherwise.
If you haven't read it before, it's new to you. Plus, everyone can appreciate a good story about a crazy neighbor wearing fuzzy slippers who stares into your windows while drinking a glass of wine at 10 a.m. right?
Affirmation
Today was the second class of the new semester. Everyone showed up, including a new add, minus the girl who emailed to tell me she spent last night in the ER after she split her finger open when a window slammed on it. She's off to a good start, huh?
The beginning of the semester is kind of like a first date. You think you like this person and all, but you need to figure them out. What makes them tick, what sets them off, what kind of person are they really?
Things went smoothly enough. I had some decent participation and some good questions. For the most part, the students seem eager to please. We'll see what their first assignments bring next week.
As I was dismissing my class and the students were leaving the room, I heard a familiar voice from out in the hallway.
"Oh man, look, it's Mrs. B! Hey Mrs. B, how are you?"
I glanced at the door as I erased the white board, but I didn't see anyone. I laughed a bit and yelled back, "Who's out there?"
A friendly voice called back, "It's your favorite student!"
I recognized the voice. "Oh, then it must be Kevin!" I yelled back.
"Oh man, did you hear that? I said, 'favorite student' and she totally knew it was me'" I heard him telling his friends. I was cracking up as I finished erasing the board.
Soon he appeared in my doorway as the last of my students were exiting the room.
"How you doing Mrs. B? I miss this class. I miss you. This was the BEST class EVER!" he said. "You new students better treat you right!" he said giving them some warning looks. "I tell everyone I know to take this class. You're the best Mrs. B. I wish I could take this class again."
I couldn't help but smile. Not only had he said these nice things. He said them in front of my new crew of students. I don't think I'll really need to see the student evaluations when they come back. That was pretty much all I needed to know.
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