A Former Student

Yesterday, Ariana brought two of her friends ~ Ryan and Josh ~ to Carol's house. Carol's sister, Jannie, was down from Maine, and Carol thought that it would be nice for the family to get together.

What was interesting was that Josh was one of the students that I had when I was working as a substitute teacher. He was in sixth grade, and his class was one of the classes from hell in that school.

I had the misfortune of being assigned that class on the day before Christmas vacation ~ a time when even the best of students were a bit on the anxious and rowdy side.

Having already had experience with a class far more challenging than this class, I found the experience more annoying than overwhelming.

One of the things that I would do when I was called upon to sub was to wear my combat books under my dress and many large rings on my fingers that I would click like brass knuckles.

In talking with Josh, I learned that I was indeed successful in the effect that I was trying to achieve. The students found my fist full of rings to be truly an intimidating thing. Behind my back, they would call me "the raptor" because one large ring in particular reminded them of a claw.

I had to chuckle upon learning that revelation.

The next time I had Josh's class was when I subbed for the art teacher. When I saw that class on the roster, I knew that I had to have a plan of action.

So, after the class filed in and got settled, I announced to the class, specifically addressing certain individuals, which included Josh, "I have a folder full of orange slips and I know how to use them!" (The orange slips were used when sending troublesome students to the assistant principal for discipline.)

You should have seen their eyes pop out and their jaws drop!

The next time I saw the art teacher, I told her that the class gave me no problem at all. She was shocked.

Apparently, according to Josh, they consistently gave the art teacher such a hard time that once she made the whole class all put their heads down on the desk while she angrily chopped paper on the guillotine paper cutter.

Being a high school senior, Josh has grown much during those past 6 years.

Nevertheless, it was amusing to discover just how much power those fists full of rings held.