RATON

That's spanish for "mouse."

Let me be clear about something...after a summer teaching in South Philly, where mice, cockroaches, and filth was the norm, I can say with confidence that the Gwynn Park kids are the biggest wusses in the history of mankind. They may try to act "thug," but when days like today happen, I know how much of a show it is for most of them.

This morning, I was doing a pretty dry lesson- some conjugation review... when all of the sudden, a mouse ran out of a hole in my wall and scampered across my feet.

Now, I'm not usually a wuss, but a mouse on the bare tops of my feet was gross and I was like "WHooaahaH! Oh dear goodness." and of course, the front row of boys (who happen to be my worst-behaved, toughest types, in the front row for a reason) saw it, and instantly SCREAMED like women. One boy literally threw his chair and bolted out the door, another kid climbed on top of his desk. This of course made the whole class go MENTAL and soon everyone was screaming at the top of their lungs and on top of their desks.

The mouse was literally a baby- the tiniest thing I've ever seen- and it was terrified. I didn't know what to do so I called the janitor to appease the kids. Each time I tried to settle them and start the lesson back up, though, the damn thing made another pass through my classroom and everyone went wild again. It was total mayhem.

Finally, it ran behind my desk and under my printer. I have my printer on one of those little ikea coffee tables, and when I pulled it aside, to my great dismay and disgust there was a huge mouse nest and the remnants of at least 10 chocolate candy hearts that I had brought in for prizes for the kids.

The mouse returned to the hole in the wall, and the janitors came 30 minutes later and set up traps.

The moral of the story: guess my grad school professors are right. You should never use candy- based extrinsic motivation in the classroom! It can only lead to trouble!

Squeakingly yours,
Tori