My Chatter-Box

As most teachers do, I too have one student who does not know the meaning of the word quiet. He is a very bright boy, and extremely nice, but he can’t stop talking.

This has become an issue in my classroom, as you as teachers know if one starts talking, it spreads like a plague. In a matter of moments my classroom goes from a calm productive learning environment to what sounds like the penguin exhibit at the zoo during feeding time. Unfortunately the majority of my day is spent in a zoo.

To address this ongoing issue, a behavior contract has been put in place to try to keep my chatter-box in check. After a particularly rough day, I pulled the student aside and tried to explain how his talking disrupts the whole class. Although he may be capable of picking up topic quickly, it is not that easy for everyone in the class, and when he continually generates conversations not related to lessons, the rest of the class is getting distracted from what they are supposed to be learning.

My question to him was, “Why do you talk so much in class?”

After pondering the question for a moment he looked at me with genuine concern. “Teacher Toad, there just isn't enough time in the day for me to talk.”

Notes from a Teaching Colleague

(Names are changed to protect the innocent.)

Jackie pointed out the fact that I had a tattoo on my back. Like always, my response was "It's not a real one." She proceeded to tell me that her "auntie" had a real one. "She got it when she got drunk." I tell parents the first day...if they don't want me to know, they better not tell them!

While testing William on punctuation this morning, I was flipping over flashcards with large printed punctuation marks. The question mark just got a blank look out of him, the period was a dot, and then we got to the comma...I knew he wouldn't get it, so I pointed to it and told him it was a comma. The next were quotation marks. "What are these?" I asked. "Four commas." was his answer.

My most perceptive student, I'll just call him "God's son"...walks up to me this morning and says, "What's wrong Ms. S.? You don't sleep?" I think this kid could read me if he was blind.

The Junk Drawer

On an average day, not particularly close to a holiday or special event one of my students came in with a gift for me. When she walked through the door she sheepishly stood by the coat racks hiding one hand behind her back.

Seeing this behavior I reminded her of my policy on toys in the classroom and suggested to her that if she had a toy behind her back and she wanted to keep it, she should put it back in her backpack.

She grinned and I went about my business giving her the chance to put away what I was sure was a toy or something she should not have brought to school. As the morning progressed, the grin on my student’s face remained and she kept a close eye on me, waiting patiently for something I was not aware of. After morning announcements when my student could no longer contain her excitement she came over to me and asked, “Teacher Toad, have you been to your desk lately?” knowing full well I had not.

She took me by the hand and led me back to my desk and there I found a faux leopard fur glasses case. I asked her if it was hers and she said, “I brought it for you.” and her eyes sparkled as her grin expanded across her face. I unzipped the glasses case and there I found an assortment of treasures one might find in the junk drawer we all have somewhere in our houses. Mine is in my kitchen.

In the case there were several small orange beads, an up orange high lighter, a stretched blue hair band, and a stripped drywall screw coated with that white cream colored paint that covered the walls in every apartment I every lived in.

She pulled out the beads and said, “See Teacher Toad., you can use these to count with, and you can color with this!” as she popped the cap off the highlighter and scribbled a mark on a scrap piece of paper.

I held up the hair band and said, “I suppose this is for my hair?” She nodded still grinning.

Perplexed I picked up the drywall screw and asked her what it was for. She sweetly tipped her head to the side and replied, “You never know.”

Starting Point Discussion - Online Education

I received my Master's in Education from University of Phoenix last spring. My husband received his Master's in Laws in International Taxation from St Thomas University School of Law in 2003.

I previously had earned my Bachelor's of Fine Arts from the Savannah College of Art & Design.