Posts under ‘defiance’

Driving home from school today, I waited at an interminable red light tapping my fingers and half-listening to Scott Simon interviewing some expert about some new type of robot-armed eco soda machine of the future. Blah blah blah blah. I knew it was important, something about fluorocarbons and the ozone layer and blah blah blah [...]

This week I had the chance to observe a fellow teacher.  It wasn’t pretty.
Her classroom was being run by 6 boys who did what they pleased when they pleased.  They giggled, cracked jokes, were sarcastic,  played with balloons and stickers, ignored instructions, roamed around the room, called out.
I don’t think it was their fault.
It was [...]

The force is always with us in the classroom. We, the teachers, direct, control, command. The question is always how much force to use.
I’m not talking about physical force–though did you know that in the eighth year of the 21st century corporal punishment in schools is still legal in 22 U.S. states?!
I’m talking [...]

How do you feel about lines? Most adults, I think, HATE them, unless we’re already in one, and someone cuts into it. Then we want the orderly justice a line promises, be it on the freeway or at Costco. Our inner wild thing wants to become a ruthless enforcer of line order.
Wild kid [...]

It’s the weekend. The Wild Things are roaring their terrible roars at home and not in my ears. In the silence I find myself thinking about José.
José who’s always playing with his erasers. Who sits as far away from me as possible. Who likes to be last in line and alone [...]