My Stand-up Career

I would love to say my students think I am funny(because I am in my head) but most of the time my humor goes right over their heads. WHOOSH and its gone. Maybe a smile from the smart kid who gets it in the back of the classroom, otherwise a few dull stares. Huh?

My favorite are the ironic statements I slip in that go unnoticed. An example is the advertisement that was in the paper that says with a hand pointing a finger towards the ground "your career starts here." I cut that out and now have it hanging on the white board. I laugh at it every morning when walk into the classroom. Yeah, pretty dry, most of them don't get it.

A few of them think the sign with a 1950's apron-wearing housewife holding a machine gun with "Ms. R. bans guns on the premise" is funny. Most of them don't get it.

So, I am happy to report that with three weeks left in the school year, my juniors are starting to hitch their wagons to the horse. Yep, giddy up kids. Today I had a few different comments that illustrated this phenomenon for me:

"Did you ever act, Ms R..... like in a theater? You have, like, 20 different voices. My favorite is when you do Ricky's" (yeah, that's mine too, I just try to sound extremely dumb, and I'm there.)

"Yeah, every day you are jumping around the room for some reason....I like the voices"

I overheard this one as I was passing out papers,
"It happened again... She says something really funny and no one gets it. Why doesn't anyone get it? It's hard to see through your eye lids, try opening them- that's so funny"

There were even a few that have started to giggle when I begin class with, "friends... neighbors... loved ones... please lower your voices..." or when I stand out in the hallway and yell to them as they approach, close to the bell, "one minute to learning!!!!" (They can't help but roll their eyes at this one.)

Then there are times that I don't intend for something to be humorous, and they're unhitched for the rest of the hour. A few of these...

"No, you do not need to create it on one of those tri-fold poster boards where your mom has to drive you to school..."

or in response to: "what movie are we watching?"
"The home video of your birth, actually." (huge response- yeah, I didn't get it.)

and of course, the obligatory,

"and then if you could please refrain from touching other people's privates-that would be super."

So, when this latest batch leaves, I will carry on alternately laughing and crying, on the INSIDE, and maybe some day they WILL get it and think back to my ironic bits of wisdom as they ask their own children, "can you take your hands out of your underwear when you are in front of others, please?"