Give Me 2 Pair, I Need 2 Pair

I was listening to Air Force Ones by Nelly, which surprisingly inspired a mini-unit. We are doing a unit on globalization and what better example than a sneaker? It's amazing how many countries are involved in making one sneaker. Just the design takes place in three different countries...holy moly! And that doesn't even include the countries involved with locating materials, assembly, distribution, etc. Let's just say, it blew my mind. Your favorite pair of shoes has probably been in more countries than you.

Things you don't learn at teacher school: how to master "the look". That look that says "You better change your behavior real quick or things will get ugly". It took a little bit, but I finally have it mastered. It's amazing what one little look can do.

Student A : "Is it true you have to pay to be here?"
Me: "Yep."
Student B: "Wait, what?! Just for that I'm going to buy you Texas Roadhouse!"

The past two weeks have been the standardized state testing. Proctoring the test is not as fun as it sounds. Basically, you have to walk around the room for 60 minutes and watch the students take the test...you can't read or have any type of electronic in the room. It's so painful. I want to stab my eyes out with the wooden, graphite-based, No. 2 pencils (yes, the proctor's manual describes the pencils that way). Then I caught myself thinking about how I would much rather take the test than proctor it. As a student, I would have loved to proctor if it meant getting out of taking the test. Yep, I'm officially on 'the other side'.

A moment I was left speechless...
Student: "When I talk I don't sound as smart because I always say 'like' but when I write I sound like really smart. So today on the test, for the writing part, I wrote it out and then I re-read it and I was like 'Oh my gosh who wrote this?! It's so good!' Then I was like 'Oh yeah, it was me! Wow, I'm good.".

Student: "I cried today after the test."
Me: "Oh my gosh, is everything ok?!"
Student: "Yeah I don't really know why I was crying. The worst part was I was so worried that my tears would get on the test and then my test would be invalid."
Poor kid.

Student: "Can I go to the bathroom? It's an emergency. And I have a really bad headache and I'm not sure if its from having to go so bad."

Student A: "If you were a character on Glee you would be Rachel."
Me: "Isn't she a little crazy?"
Student A: "Yeah, but you're a little crazy too."
Student B: "At least she didn't say you are Santana, she's a freak!"