The Twist

"What are you doing?"  I had been reviewing the day to come with the class when I noticed one of my boys in an awkward position and a look of confusion on his face.  He had stuck his legs through the back of his seat, causing his body to have an unusual twist to it as the chair itself rocked backwards.  If you're a teacher, I'm sure you've seen this maneuver performed many times throughout a school year.  This is probably the reason that when I was a child, we had our chairs connected to the desk with a sturdy steel bar (they had all the answers back then).

By this time, I had lost the attention of the class as they looked at the boy writhing to free himself from his fate.  "Look away!"  he cried,  "I'm hideous!"  and with that declaration he gave into the fact that there was no returning from where he had gone - he went into a slow tipping motion that landed him face down on the carpet, legs still mangled in steel.  

"There is no cure for what you have,"  I told him as I helped him back to an upright position.  "Being you is just something that you're going to have to deal with for the rest of your life,...and I hope that never changes."

"Yeah.  I know... thanks,"  he got himself back to his desk and received the huzzahs from the boys around him - like a warrior returning victorious from battle.

This is what makes teaching so awesome!  The fact that after 15 years I can watch a student contort his body in a metal chair, then tip over landing in a heap on the floor, and not be phased one bit, but rather find the humor in it all - that's the fun of working with kids.

The other thing that makes teaching cool - you don't get to run these type of experiments in an office: