My lines

So today a student finally caught me at one of my lines. I don’t know exactly how I started saying this in class, but whenever I’m going easy on the kids about something I find myself saying, “See, I’m not as mean as I look…” Most often the kids laugh, we have a little 5^th grade style banter about it, and we move on. Today, there were two questions on a math test that I was giving them, but I realized (only AFTER they were taking it that it may not be a fair question). So, I announced that the kids can “X” out those 2 questions, and we’d talk about them afterward. Just to remind them that I was doing something nice for them ;), I finished off my announcement with: “See, I’m not as mean as I look…” Without skipping a beat and with a playful tone to his voice, a little boy said, “we’ll thank gd for that! Who knows where you’d be?” I have to say I loved every second of that. This boy came into my class so timid and shy. Now, he’s joking around with me! The growth of children over the course of the year never stops amazing me.