There are some days that I really ought to know better.
If you follow the news in Philadelphia, you know that over the last 36 hours the top story has basically been nightmare fodder for any teacher and parent. So while I was making my rounds today checking work, a couple of students diverted themselves from their assignment by talking to each other about the latest on the story.
Now, this may be a sign I have some things to work on in classroom management, but I usually don’t mind a little off topic chatter if there’s also some productive work going on. I mean, as adults, we shoot the breeze while we’re trying to be productive all the time, then we get down to business. But today I just really needed to not hear the story relived and rehashed. So I asked the folks to please not talk about that topic because I would prefer not to hear about it.
Bless their hearts, my students looked out for me. But as a result the following dialogue ensued:
STUDENT IN ROW 2: Begins to talk about story.
STUDENT IN ROW 1: Hey, remember, Dr. Dave doesn’t want us to talk about that story!
STUDENT IN ROW 3: Don’t talk about which story? This story?
STUDENT IN ROW 2: Dr. Dave doesn’t want us to talk about it!
STUDENT IN ROW 4: What story are we talking about?
We got back on track and had a good class. But I gotta remember not to set off any future Abbott and Costello routines when I’m in a touchy mood.