And for my next trick...

An interesting day at the school. Yep, quite. Today was fairly typical, with observing and helping where I can. First I was with a double class (two class periods in a row) of 9th year English, and then I went upstairs after break (there's a 15 min break every morning at 10:30) to see 10th year English. Sounds pretty normal, right? Yeah...So I got there, and my cooperating teacher isn't there. I figure she's a bit late, so I stand outside the door, waiting.

Then another teacher comes along, sees me waiting, and opens the door for me so I can sit down. That was nice. I used the time to continue reading Holes, which the 8th year students are reading (I've wanted to read it for quite a while). I got another short chapter in, and then the bell rang, and students started congregating outside the room. A couple peeped in, saw me, and asked if I was their teacher today. I said no, I'm a student teacher, and their teacher is coming, she's just running a bit late. So, they waited a while, and then asked to come in, and I'm like sure. But they then decided outside the classroom was a better idea. Really didn't matter to me, as long as they were well-behaved.

Shyeah, right, like a group of 14-15 year olds, left mainly to themselves with no real figure of authority nearby are going to behave. I decided to stand up and see about getting them in the classroom where they could sit down, since there seemed to be too many in the small hallway, and they were getting loud. I told them they could go have a seat in the classroom. My words were totally lost on them. Instead, they decided to start pushing each other around, in a very closed space, so that about 5 young men, all bigger than me, were jostling each other, pushing, shoving, and punching, all within a few feet of me.

I was like....FUCK! What the hell do I do?! So I yelled at them, told them to stop. I wasn't about to jump into the fray because I wasn't sure they'd stop a fist if my face was in front of it or not. They seemed to be mostly play-fighting, but some of those pushes and punches were coming in harder than they should. But as much as I yelled, they just ignored me. And then my savior arrived.

No crown of thorns or cross, but he saved me nonetheless. One of the other teachers came, and when he arrived, they calmed a bit. He got them to sit down in the classroom, though they were still quite loud. He then turned to me, and said he would go downstairs and look for the teacher. I'm like....great....Me, alone again, with a class that has already proven it can and will ignore every word I say. What do I do?

Think fast, Katie, think fast! What can I do to catch their attention and keep it long enough that they won't tear each other, or myself, apart? Singing and dancing was out of the question (except maybe at last resort). The students wouldn't give much information as to what they're lessons were, so I had no idea what they've been talking about in class, plus classwork from a pseudoteacher would not go over very well. So I did the first thing that came to my head: tell a story.

I announce to the class, "Alright class, can I have your attention? Who would like to hear a story?" At the last question, the majority of them shot their hands up in the air, turned their faces towards me, and for the most part, shut up. I'm like...sweet! Now what the hell do I say?

I didn't have a story book on me, nor did I have a fan-skippin-tastic story to tell that I could think of at that very stressful and pivotal moment. So I decided to make do with my own little tale. Not very creative, but it did get their attention for a while.

"There once was a student teacher, who came here from the United States. She just arrived Saturday, and it was her first time abroad. She came to a new school, and had to learn very much in a very short time, about the education system, the student, and the teachers." At this, the students were like, ohhhh, because of course they understood that I was just talking about myself. But they still were mostly attentive. "She knows she must stand out (I pointed at my clothing and such) by the way she looks and by her very apparent American accent. She is going to be helping out in the classroom, and eventually teaching, until Christmas."

Here I was losing a bit of their attention, but I luuured them back in with, "In fact, I will be working with your class, and a few others. And later, I will be teaching one or two classes in particular. And I get to decide which ones. Whichever one I like." I knew that maybe it wouldn't matter much to them, but on the other hand, the other classes seemed rather intrigued at the idea of having me as their teacher.

So, this took up about 5 min. The other teacher came back, but still not their regular teacher. Apparently she was finishing up a meeting with a parent, and she'd be on her way soon. That left a few open minutes...that didn't look too pretty from my perspective. Neither of us really knew what to do, and all the kids could tell us was that they had been working with poetry. Unfortunately, I had no poetry with me to share, and my efforts at asking what they thought about poetry went completely unheeded as they went back to their roaring and goofing around. Again, I had to think, think, think fast...

A game! Yes! A prize! Yes! Okay, I knew what to do. I had some American souvenirs with me I planned to use as small gifts before the end of my term here, that just happened to be in my bookbag. What could I pull from my bag of tricks? Ah yes....that would work just nicely.

"Okay students, who would like a prize?" Again, hands shot up, students were cheering, yeah! Good, got their attention. "If you can answer this question--with your hand raised and NO shouting out the answer--I will give you a small prize. Tell me, what team is this the symbol for?" I pasted a familiar symbol on the white board.

Hands shot up, and I called on each one individually. "The Giants?" "The Chicago Bulls?" "Georgetown?"...the list went on, all completely wrong, some for not even the right sport. It was great :) I gave them a hint. "Okay, the team is in the Midwest." (They have no clue what that means). "This team won the first and second Superbowls." (no clue) "Alright, the team is in Wisconsin." More guesses all around, but again, no clue. Then the teacher arrived. YESSSSS!

The kids were left in suspence. They wanted to know the answer. "Would you like to know the answer? It begins with a G...(no clue) It is a color." Finally, "Green!"
"Yes, the Green Bay Packers, which is where I am from."

The teacher started class, and I sat down, drained but feeling good. A student asked, "So what was the prize?"
"Oh, just some stickers"
The class laughed. Sweet :)