Today

Yesterday my 4th-5th period class of boys had a farting contest. Needless to say, I was not looking forward to today’s class.

But I was ready. I had a plan. I was armed with iPods and audiobooks. Without an audience, the class ought to be quieter and gasless.

As I planned and plotted, my 1st-2nd period class filed in with their cheerful greetings of “Hi, Ms. Gonzalez!” I began logging in my attendance when I realized the class was quiet. I looked up. Every single boy in the class (it’s a girl-less class) was seated in his seat, reading… quietly!

I sat back in my chair, watching them in amazement.

Yes, 1st-2nd period class went well. But I was still not looking forward to another farting contest.

I got my 4th-5th period class going (3 girls in this class). As the groups worked their ways through the various stations, I sat nearest the groups most likely to get out of control. Twice outbursts occurred but I was able to stifle them. (No one was allowed to utter a sentence with the word “you” in it.)

Then I realized, the farting leader sure was quiet. Was I missing something?

I glanced over. He was engrossed in a book. A book!?! Him!?! He’s avoided reading for the entire two weeks of school (quite a feat for a student enrolled in a reading improvement class)! What was going on?

As the bell rang for a change in rotations, he came over to me. “Ms. Gonzalez, is it all right if I read instead of playing on the computer today?”

What!?! Who are you!?! What have you done with Daquarius!?!

“Sure,” I responded. “Go for it!”

And he sat and read.

Another group member asked him what he was doing. Daquarius answered, “I’m reading a really good book.” (Strong emphasis on good.)

The other student asked him which book it was. Daquarius hid the book under the table.

The student managed to grab a look at the cover. “I know where that book is,” he declared, already en-route to the bookshelves.

Now I was really curious. Which book was it?

With a satisfied sigh, Daquarius closed the book, leaned back in his chair, and looked over the cover of the book. “I’ll take the quiz when my group gets to that rotation again,” he told me.

The other student then asked me if he could sit out a rotation on the computer, too. He wanted to read Daquarius’ book. “Sure,” I responded, still in a daze.

He, too, eventually declared the book a satisfactory read. On the quiz, Daquarius made 90% while the other student earned 100%. They asked if there were any other books by the author. “Who was the author?” I asked.

They grabbed a copy of the book for a quick consultation of the cover. They didn’t know how to pronounce it so they brought the book to me. They wanted more books like that.

I read the cover: Jane Eyre (adapted for Read180) by Bronte.

What am I going to do with this class? <—said while laughing