Sneak Sneak Run Run

Less innocent than this dog.
Observed on Friday, 2/20/09 Approx. 12:05pm. Room 14, EIB.

Student V and Student P are located near the back of the classroom with P in a satellite desk. V and P are giving each other looks and "facial nudges" across the four and a half feet gap between them. They are doing it relatively quietly and are not bothering other people except each other. Since these two students have a reputation (i.e. detention, suspension, general behavior issues and defiance), I - sitting in the back as well - decide not to intervene unless they their volume goes up. However, if they make any sound louder than the squeak of a pencil, I'm there faster than they can gape and deny it.

So they do this communication tactic for some minutes and I'm trying to decide if it's worth a disruption to stop them because it's been going on for quite a while and they are, in fact, disturbing each other from learning, when Student V casually makes a spaztastic movement and a tiny piece of folded notebook paper lands on the floor between her and Student P. Student V gives P and the paper each a significant look. Student P gets up, asks to borrow a pencil from V, deliberately steps on the paper with one foot, and drags that foot across the floor back to her desk.

Inside my head, I'm saying to myself, "Nuh-uh girl, you did not just do that."

Student P hasn't picked up the paper yet because she knows that even if my full attention is not on her, any overtly suspicious movement would be the end of it. I walk over, whisper to her to give me whatever is under her foot. She denies doing anything. I break it down for her. "Lift up your foot." I say. She lifts up the foot without the note underneath. "The other one." She slides the other foot around, denying anything the whole time.

Inner Ms. Ng says, "Thy lady doth protests too much."

Persistence wins in the end. I give Student P a choice: to lift up her foot and get back to taking notes from Mr. L's lesson on volume, or work on volume problems in the kindergarten classroom. She lifts up her foot, I pick up the note and toss it emphatically into the trash. Walking back to my seat, Student P and Student V once again give each other looks and smiles, but when I walk in between them on my way from the trash can to the back bench and picked up my notebooks to notate what just occurred, they meekly turned back to their work.

Score 1 for Ms. Ng.

However, score 35 for the class as a whole from the first three weeks. It's going to be an uphill battle. But lesson learned: be Mean Ms. Ng for the first two or three weeks. Then I can loosen up by degrees once students know that I mean business.