Don't Stand So, Don't Stand So Close To Me

I have this student. A 14 year old girl. She failed every class but mine. That's pretty common for my class. Either my standards are too low or I'm the only teacher who gets any work out of some of these kids.

Anyway, she's sitting in my class, smiling at me. She's just beaming in my direction. She's like a renaissance painting. Everywhere I stand in the room, she's staring at me. This goes on for 20 minutes. Then I figure out what's going on. She has new glasses.

I stop the lesson and say "I see you there, smiling at me all period. I see your new glasses." She turns beet red. She's both embarassed and all proud of herself. I tell her they make her look "wicked smaaaaht."

We finished the lesson a few minutes early and I was talking with students at the door waiting for the bell. She comes up to the group of students I'm talking with. "Mr Seeeeeeee!" she calls me. Still smiling at me. She puts her elbow on my sholder like she's leaning on me.*

Then it dawns on me. It's not about the new glasses. She's seeing the world clearly for the first time.

And she's got a crush on me.




*For the record, I don't let students touch me. She knew she crossed a line right away. It was over before I could tell her to stop. It was harmless. My ESP was even teasing me about it afterward, if it was anything but innocent we would all have gone straight to the office. That's one of the good things about working with the at risk kids after NCLB, there's a second set of adult eyes in the classroom. Because after all this crap, I'm hyper aware of how my actions can be percieved.