There's no Me here

It's cold outside and I'm in no mood to be messed with. As usual, I'm told there are wild kids that just don't like to listen.  When the first student comes in, she takes one look at me, turns and runs out of the room screaming, "We have a sub!" Yes, it's a middle school. My plan is to mark the first trouble maker and send him/her to detention. 

As half the class(15 students) sit down, Hamsa yells that she knows where the others are and would be happy to go get them. I thank her but decline the offer. Just then a student walks in like he owns the place. He says, "Who are you?" I say, "I'm me, who are you?" Trying to be funny, he says, "Me." I look at the attendance sheet and say, "There's no Me here, you must be in the wrong class, scram." Confused, he says, "No, my name is Abdi." I look at the attendance sheet as if it is the Holy Grail and say, "Sorry, I don't see your name. You must not exist. Go away, I have a class to teach." At this point, the whole class is dead quiet, wondering if I'm not all that stable. They sit quietly waiting for further instructions. At this point, Abdi has dropped the tough guy attitude and is frantically looking for his name. With great relief, he finds his name, Abdiwahali. I say, "Now why didn't you say so in the first place? Please sit down and don't do anything to annoy me." Now I have every one's attention.

I demonstrate how we will use a compass to create tessellations. Their confusion quickly turns to wonder as they create hexagons, triangles, and rectangles simply by drawing circles with their compass and connecting points with a ruler.

Ten minutes later, the behavior person comes in to see how things are going. Confused that it is quiet and everyone is working, he looks at me, shakes his head and smiles as he leaves the room.  

To maintain focus and learning, I move around the room as a bee does to flowers, constantly encouraging/helping the students. Saying the simplest things such as 'good job' or 'your getting it' puts a smile on their faces.

Frustrated, Hawsa says, "I can't do this. Look at the mistakes I make." I say, "Now you're learning!" Boy, is she confused. I say, "Remember how people discover great things? They never give up! Hawsa looks at her pattern, her eyes get huge, and she gets to work saying, "Thank you Mr. B."

By the end of the day, I'm exhausted. I've just made 90 new connections...