And now for something completely different............

Okay, since its open mic, I am going to take this opportunity to tell a funny CTE story which occurred in my class recently. Let me set the scene for you. As teachers, we all know how tough the time period AFTER lunch can be. Full tummies and sitting in class many times can be a bad mixture for a teenager. Upon returning from lunch, my class sat down to complete a reflective writing assignment they had begun before the lunch bell rang. I was concerned that many of the students had not finished the five paragraph task before going to stuff their faces so I was mentally prepared to “help” any students needing a little push once we returned.

What I was not prepared for was the puddle of drool that had formed on the desk just under the mouth of one of my students! He had obviously succumbed to the tryptophan in his lunch-time turkey sub and had made the mistake of laying his head down on the desk. Sleep won, he lost. So this is the state I find him in, near comatose and likely dreaming of running with puppies through fields of flowers. Luckily, I was not nearly as incapacitated as he and was able to make a quick decision to save the day.

The note I wrote on the dry erase board was simple. “When you read this, slowly, quietly make your way out into the hallway in small groups”. As the students read the note and realized the situation, they gladly complied. Some crept like ninjas others moved with the stealth of a world class secret agent. Within a few short moments, my room was emptied of students, save one; my drool manufacturer was still fast asleep in his comfy desk.

It wasn’t long before he emerged from the classroom, book bag slung over his shoulder and moving with a sense of urgency. The look on his face told us everything we needed to know, he had no idea what time it was or what period/block we were in. Insert howling laughter here. He was a good sport about it and was able to laugh along with the rest of us. I did make him clean up the puddle though.