the answer is no

Good day in the classroom today overall. My second class of mostly boys needs some serious whip-crackin' but I ain't playin' benefit-of-the-doubt like I did last year. I told the class that if they were going to abuse the privilege of having a voice in my classroom that all their voices belonged to me until further notice. Some of them had the ownership of their feet commandeered until further notice as well. This seemed to get their attention at least for a little while especially when one mouthful of trouble couldn't remember what silence is. The scene looked something like this:

Student talks to another student across the room, despite directions to complete assignment silently.
Me: Do you steal?
Him: Wha?
Me: Do you steal?
Him: Huh? No.
Me: Then why are you using my voice without permission?
Him: Dur...
Other Kids: OMGWTF? Srsly?!!!!1!1

Alright, that last part is just ridiculousness, but it got their attention. And when I've got their attention I have to use it as quickly I as can. I haven't had to do too much yelling so far today like I did last week. Giving them the evil eye works fairly well. I've got a better list of mammas to call this year too - more complete that is. Progress is small but already apparent.

Another one that makes them think long enough to stop talking and pay attention for at least a minute: If you're running your mouth to your neighbor when you're supposed to thinking that's just a whole lot of stupid coming out. I got too many smart kids in this class to hear all this stupid in my room. Well, that one's worn off since last week. They keep me on my mental toes, though.

And one more thing: the freakin' bathroom. I spend more time dealing with kids who need to go to the bathroom than is probably normal. "Can I go to the bathroom?" No. "Can I go to the bathroom now?" No. "But I never got to go at lunch." Tough. "Can I go to the bathroom NOW?" NO.

Excuse me, but I have ABSOLUTELY NO SYMPATHY for some kid who spent all their time chasing girls on the yard to remember that they had to pee and now that they are back in class suddenly they really have to go right this second. Kid, I'll have you know, at 1:30 p.m. I have been awake since 5:30 a.m. and have peed exactly ONCE and will not see a bathroom for another three hours. AND I've been on my feet, working on filling your brain with vital information all this time. Ask me to go to the bathroom again, you little punkass - I goddamn DARE YOU.

Still some good conversation floating around the interwebs re: RT3. Check out comments at Pistolette's post for an ongoing debate. I certainly have more to say on the subject but right now, papers to grade, kids to assess, lessons to plan.

And peeing.