Amusing Class

I just finished a class that was all middle school teenagers who were cutting up in Korean and ignoring me. I could barely get them to focus while we checked homework answers. Then I discovered only half of them had their textbooks when I finished with the homework. And they were all sitting together with no books, cutting up and doing homework for another class. This was not good.

So first off, I confiscated their other homework and stacked it on my desk at the front of the room. Then I was going to tell them to move and sit boy girl boy girl so the boys with no books could share with the girls who had books.

But in the process of pointing at them to tell them where to sit, my elbow connected with the small basket of pens and pencils and board markers and erasers that I carry with me to classes. The basket hit the ground and scattered its contents throughout the room with a huge BANG!!! It was a total accident on my part but I decidedly in that split second to play it up.

I didn't even look at my things, instead glaring at the students who were unprepared and not behaving. I think I even raised my voice a little. Every student in the room sat, shocked that I had thrown my possessions in rage, while I carried on about how they needed their books so we could have class for about a minute. I made the trouble makers promise to bring their books next time, and then calmly assigned them their new seats so we could share books and continue class.

Normally when I move a student to a new desk, I hear "UnnnnhhhhH!!! Why teacha WHY!?! Noooo" at least once. These boys complied instantly with their new seating arrangement. I didn't hear a peep the rest of the class and I calmly collected my possessions while the students were doing their assignments.

I am still laughing at how shocked they looked when I threw my stuff. They'll never know it was an accident.