This has got to stop

Sooo I have this little girl in my class. She is an absolute hoot & bless her heart, she has no idea that I find her so funny. I am positive that if she knew that I was laughing so much on the inside, she would be irate. She obviously provides me with many funny teaching stories, so here is a pretty good one.

Last week I asked her to move her clip down one time because she was being disrespectful and was giving me loads of attitude. For those of you not familiar with "clips", allow me to explain - clip systems are often used for classroom management to enforce discipline on a daily basis. Clip charts are a teensy bit controversial at the moment because some people say they hinder a child's self esteem and do very little for classroom management. In order to use a clip chart in a not-so-embarrassing way, I came up with these clip levels: Super, Good, Okay, and Sad. So see, my clip chart really isn't so bad and I don't use colors, but instead really cute designed plates.

Okay, so back to my little friend. After the massive amounts of attitude {eye rolling, and exasperated groans every time I spoke- yes, this happens as early as SECOND GRADE}, I kindly asked her to move her clip from "Super" to "Good". Now, in most places and with most children, this would not be the end of the world... but she doesn't exactly go by the standards of "most kids". This is where things get interesting- while on her way to the clip chart, she makes a b-line for my desk. She approaches me with her finger pointing in my face and demands, "THIS has got to STOP." And if you are wondering, yes, I almost died from attempting to stifle a laugh. I tried to very quickly gain as much composure as possible and I made sure to use that all-powerful "teacher look" and simply told her, "You are right, this behavior does need to stop. And when it stops, I am sure your clip will not need to move." As you could imagine, she did not appreciate my answer but she figured out pretty fast that I was not going to budge. She starred me down for a good 30 seconds before marching, or stomping rather, over to the chart and dramatically snatching her clip and briefly holding it in the air (I guess as some sort of protest) then finally shoving it onto the correct level.

Now, if you have read this far I feel the profound need to apologize. I just realized that this story is probably not so interesting to anyone but me. It might be one of those "you have to know the kid" stories in order for you to get the full effect. Any who, I am sorry to you, my 3 readers. I will try to beef up the story selection next time. :)