a gentle, gentle, gentleman

Today was a good day. Even though I had to give several lectures on tidiness and respect and felt like a parent for much of the day, when the last bell rang and all the kids shuffled out I felt quite peaceful. At lunch I was joking with some of the staff, and then chatting with the VP about a course we both teach, and it suddenly seemed strange that one month ago I did not know any of these people that I see and interact with every day. Now they're such a big part of my life! It's weird.

This is a scene from Socials class today:

Miss W: "The grade eights get two lockers, I'm pretty sure."

Student: "You're wrong!"

Miss W: (sigh) "When you need to tell someone they're wrong, what's a better way of saying it?"

Student: (sheepish) "You could say-"

Miss W: (cleverly) "YOU'RE WRONG!"

Student: (laughs) "Okay, you could say-"

Miss W: (even more cleverly) "YOU'RE WRONG! How does that make you feel?"

Student: "Okay, you could say, 'Sorry, you might be wrong.'"

Miss W: "Yes, thank you. Nobody likes to be wrong, so say it nicely."

Student: "Especially women!"

Miss W: "WHAT."

I can honestly say I have never seen a student more afraid of me than that student was in that moment.

In his defense, I know he is a good kid and didn't mean it disrespectfully - he probably heard something like that said somewhere else and it got a good reaction, so he thought it would be funny. He was so terrified when I came out to meet him in the hallway (which was where I had banished him to), he was almost crying. He said, "Miss W, you didn't let me finish. I was going to say, 'Especially women, because they are usually always right, so it... so...'"

I said, "Is that really what you were going to say, or did you make that up right now to try and make it better?"

Then we had that conversation about respect and women and blah blah blah, and it made me feel very parent-y. I do not think he will say anything like that any time soon.

When I moved, my mother sent with me a book filled with recipes and tips, and one of her tips was, "If you are starving while waiting for your dinner to cook, that is a good time to eat your vegetables so you are healthy and don't spoil your dinner." While waiting for my chicken to cook this evening, I ate a box of Cracker Jacks. I'm pretty sure that's what she meant, right?