Your Chin is Falling Off

As a "veteran teacher" it is your unofficial job to take the newer teachers and show them the ropes.  You help them with issues, management, copies etc. and help them get better at what they do.  One of the biggest things you can do for a new teacher however is seriously prepare them for how absurd kids can be.

My Friend, Ms. D is a new teacher this year and for the most part is actually pretty awesome at it.  She has a knack for dealing with the ridiculousness around her and still being able to teach a very difficult subject to a not so receptive audience.

Something Ms. D is good at is making herself readily available any time so that the students can get help when they need it.  As a veteran teacher I warned her that when a student is alone in a room with a teacher (particularly a female teacher at an all boys school) boys have a tendency to be a little more needy, a little weirder, and a little more willing to be absurd.

Ms. D wrote me this email one morning after helping a student "DB" with some work before school started. 

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My morning with DB:

DB: "Oh he's a real person!"

Me: "Who?

DB: "Stephen Hawking! I thought he was a fake person that people make fun of. Like, I saw him on these anime...i mean...nevermind"

DB: "I still don't get this song."

Me: "What don't you understand."

DB: "If I liked it, why would I put a ring on it. Like, if I like the taste of my toes, why would I put a ring on it?"

Me: "I plan on using these quotes in a movie I write someday"

DB: "In an acting movie or a musical"

Me: "Probably acting"

DB: "Good. That would be hard to sing. You are olllllld. Your chin is fallliiinnnggg offf. You look like michael jacksooooon"

Me: "I'm not that far off from 35."
DB: "Yeah, you're old. See, your chin is sagging."

Me: DB, you're a trip, you know that?
DB: Yeah, 2 flights. I take you up then I take you down.