I was not particularly happy about this. I took the boy out into the hall and told him the next time he touched the girl in my classroom would be the last time he sat with her.
I ignored him one day when he did it before the class actually began. Evidently he was testing me, because the next day I saw him hugging the girl again. I assigned him a new seat, and he asked why. I said I told him why a long time ago.
I was going to give the guy another chance, but my supervisor told me not to. This actually made a lot of sense to me. I always tell teachers to keep their promises and go ahead with whatever it is they say they're going to do. Otherwise your word isn't worth that much. I pulled the girl out of her class and explained why I moved her friend. I told her it wasn't my business what she does on her own time, but I can't have that in my classroom. She didn't look like she cared at all.
Today we had a test, and the girl actually took a seat in front of the class, which surprised me. She's usually in the back. As far as I can tell, she's not even a little upset. Maybe she's relieved. She's doing great work in my class. The boy didn't show up. Perhaps he's teaching me a lesson.
My actual lesson today, in the next class, didn't go precisely as well as I'd hoped. We were discussing the difference between "like" and "would like" in conversation. One of the cues I gave the kids was "I don't like." A boy said, "I don't like to wake up."
I said, "You don't like to wake up? Do you know what it means if you don't wake up?"
"You are dead," answered one of my astute beginners.
The class was very amused by my poor student being dead. However, he defended himself.
"I don't like to wake up early," he said.
I played a video of Hawaii. It showed beaches and palm trees, not to mention much nicer weather than the muck we're getting today.
"I'd like to go to Hawaii," I said. "Would you like to go to Hawaii?"
"No."
"No, I wouldn't," I corrected. But the students were just as irritated by my correction as you'd be.
"What would you like to do?" I asked.
"I'd like to sleep," said one, then another, and just about every voice in the room.
You know what? I'd like to sleep too. It's a perfect day to stay home and sleep. Who wants to trudge through the rain and snow to go to the airport?
I'll go to Hawaii some other time.
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