Well played

The slogan for the television show Survivor is "Outwit. Outplay. Outlast." Sometimes, teaching feels like a really long game of Survivor.

You know it's been a long day when two freshmen boys outwit you...and you find it amusing.


Let me tell you how it happened.

Typically on Fridays we have Silent Reading for most if not all of the hour. You see, I require students to complete 1000 pages of reading of their own choice for the semester. This is outside of the reading that I assign in class. For most kids, this is easily achievable if they actually read on a regular basis. It requires them to stretch a little, but they can do it. For those kids who have low reading levels, I modify the number of pages required.

In order to help them complete the reading assignment, I give them the SSR time during class. At first they hate it, but after a few weeks, they come to love it for many reasons. One, they always know what will happen in class on Fridays. Second, if they don't have much time to read at home, they have time to read during school. Third, it's a nice relaxing way to spend the hour. And finally, and this is the most important reason, it means they don't have any homework for my class over the weekend.

I do have some requirements, though. They need to come to class prepared with a book. I do have a ton of books in my room and I get a class set of newspapers on Friday that they are welcome to borrow, but it's best if they bring their own book. I prefer if they go to the library before Friday. I do allow kids to go one or two at a time, but never with their friends. Believe it or not, there are some kids who actually don't enjoy reading, and will do whatever they can to get out of it. Shocking, I know.

Well, this past Friday was a long day. I've been sick for about two weeks now, and each day is just about draining me of all my energy. I drag myself home after the last bell. Most kids are pretty sensitive to that, and most don't take advantage of it.

Two freshman boys in my fifth hour class, however, figured out a way to make my fatigue work to their advantage. These two partners in crime asked if they could go to the library together. I knew they wanted to go hang out in the library and just talk, so I gave my standard response, "No way, Jose! K, you can go first, and when he comes back, C, you can go." They tried to talk me into letting them both go, but I told them that they could do it my way or they could both skip the trip to the library and stay in the classroom. They relented, and K took a hall pass and headed off to find a book.

A young lady, who is not really friends with either of the boys, asked if she could go to the library, too, and I gave her the second hall pass.

Then I got down to the business of doing book talks. A few kids came and left to the library and the restroom, etc. They ask, I tell them who they can go after, and then they are pretty good about monitoring themselves and going in "order" so it's fair. I don't have to pay too much attention.

Well, about 20 minutes into class, I noticed that K was still not back from the library. And guess who else was gone? If you guessed C, you are right! Now, this typically would annoy me, but on this particular Friday, it made me laugh. The whole class was staring at me...but when we figured out that we all got duped by these two knuckleheads, they thought it was pretty funny, too. They knew that I had told the boys they couldn't go together, but somehow not a single person noticed that C had managed to get a pass while K was still in the library.

I called the librarian and told her that I had been outsmarted by two freshmen boys, and could she send them back to class for me? She did, I "lectured" the boys and the class about following directions, and tried to keep a straight face the whole time.

Well played, C and K, well played.