Kids say, and do, the darndest things!

So in the last two days I have been powerfully reminded of why I teach. It is literally because I love knowing that I am changing lives - especially the lives of the kids that drive me CRAZY! That sounds like such a paradox, and maybe only other teachers will ever be able to understand that, but it's true, and has literally driven me to tears several times lately.

But enough of the mushy stuff... Another very powerful reason why I teach is because I get at least one reason to laugh every day! A dear friend brightened my day today and reminded me of this wonderful fact of life that I get to enjoy daily. Here are a few of my favorites from the last year and a little bit.

1) You've seen Stuart from MadTV right?! If not, look it up on youtube and laugh! Anywho, I literally had a student come up to me during recess one day and say, "Teacher, look what I can do!" and then proceeded to jump up and down just like Stuart!!!! I laughed SO hard and she said, "I know, it's cool huh?!" Yes. Yes it was!

2) Last year we caught 4 of the most innocent 7-year-old boys EVER in the girls bathroom. They of course were sent to the principal's office, in tears, and had the following chat. "We thought there was candy in there because the girls always came out with candy, so we went in to check and all there was was a napkin machine!" "Even so, you shouldn't have gone in there." "But, I just don't think it's fair that the girls can buy napkins for 25 cents!" "Ok, boys, do you have any other questions?" "Just one. Teacher, what does T-A-M-P-O-N stand for?" "Um, I think you should ask your mom about that."

3) After an awesome lesson on life cycles, my colleague mentioned that one of my super smart, but shy boys said, "Mrs. B. That's not really a human life cycle though... We don't start out as babies. We start out as these little circle things, right -" "You know, I think for today we're just going to start as babies." "Oh. Ok." The teacher walked away, grateful to have avoided THAT conversation!