#memorablemomentsineducation #24: I’ve been kicked out of class more than one time. In 5th grade, I was removed from class for flipping off my teacher.
I can’t remember who started it, but Jeremy Ryals and I were amused by the act of rubbing our middle fingers between our eyebrows for quite some time—like 20 minutes time—until eventually our poor student teacher could no longer act like it was accidental. I was sent to the teacher’s office in our pod for the remainder of the afternoon. When my mom came to run our Girl Scout troop meeting, she got to hear all about what I had done, but she waited to unload her wrath until we got in the car. I can still describe every detail of the dash in a Buick Skylark circa 1985 because that is where I stared while my mother screamed at me about my embarrassing and ridiculous actions.
To this day, I can’t tell you why I did it. I actually liked our student teacher. I don’t think I could say I did it to impress Jeremy either. It’s just one of those moments when my ill-formed frontal lobe hadn’t yet stopped me from starting something and continuing it until an adult stepped in to say “no.” As a teacher, I have watched students behave in similar, yet perplexing, ways where no one can pinpoint the cause or logic behind any of it. I guess I’m just happy to know that Miss O’Connor stuck with teaching and nothing we did that day prevented her from believing in a future career.
Because we all have those days, those days where you think it’d be better to become a bank teller, as my officemate puts it, or own a flower shop, as my colleague explains it. We all have our backup plans, if for no other reason than to get us through the days when students are just idiots….without really meaning to be, myself included.