It was a typical Friday afternoon, and I realized that the children's desks were in dire need of a good cleaning. I told the children I would give them fifteen minutes to get their desks in order before they could leave. I circulated around the room, as the children tossed out old papers, organized books, placed supplies back into pouches, and so forth.
Then, from behind, I hear a student yell, "Mrs. ******* help".
Wesley, our class clown that year, decided it would be funny to fit himself into his desk, backside first. Our desks are the style that have a big open compartment on the bottom for books. Wesley, one of my smallest students ever, was completely in the desk with just his little hands and feet sticking out.
"Wesley," I scolded, as I swiftly glided across the room to assist him.
As I approach him, I hear one child say, "He's stuck, Mrs. G., he's really stuck".
Yea, yea, I thought to myself. We'll get him out. Well, I tried and tried to retrieve him from the desk, but was not successful. I commanded another student to recruit the help of a fellow teacher, Mr. W., who came from across the room.
"What's up Wesley?", he asked, seeing the situation. Finally, we decided to try to lift the desk and dump him out. Mr. W. laughed, "What goes in, must come out"
I was not amused, and by this time, Wesley had begun to cry. He'd realized he was in trouble. We recruited yet another teacher, and still could not find a way to release this child from the desk. Finally, we called 911, and his parent. They had to actually disassemble the desk to get the child out. It was 5:00 before Wesley got to go home that night, and I do believe that was the last time he tried to inhabit a desk.
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Hands down, one of the funniest teaching moments ever!
ReplyDeleteI once taught a seventh grade class in a building across the street from the regular high school. Invariably, I was late for the class, and, also invariably, the students were in the middle of some sort of ruckus by the time I got there. Once I came into the class, took roll, and realized I was missing Frankie. I sent his name to the office and started class. Only then did I realize that Frankie was sitting butt-first in the waste basket. Not a word from any of the other kids gave him away. I let him stay there as long as he could stand - er, sit it.
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