I’ve seen it all in teaching. Luckily, today in class, my kids did NOT see it all.
Fifth period had its general noise going on, then students started laughing and smiling. But it wasn’t from some amazing witticism that came from me. It was a quiet laughing and smiling, and their amusement was directed my way. You know how the class has a certain din, and then that din is diminished to the point where a teacher knows something is amiss–the sounds are not the same. This was that time.
Kids were turning red with amusement and I was turning red because this had to be something associated with me. I’m old, I don’t care, but when you run through all the things they could be noticing, it gets a little embarrassing, to the point where I noticed my cheeks getting red. Enough of that.
“What?” I asked.
They said nothing, but were still acting silly.
“What?” I asked. “What is it? What’s the deal?”
One kid spoke up. “You have a hole in your pants,” he said, smiling ear to ear.
Suck it, Thursday, for giving me a hole right in my crotch. My jeans were old, getting close to retirement, and they just gave up under pressure today. Gah.
I crossed my legs, laughed with them, the redness left my cheeks, and we moved forward.
This would have been a more embarrassing moment in some other circumstance, but we’re talking about teaching here, and other teachers have to understand. We’re up there all the time in class with the metaphorical holes in our jeans. Sometimes they’re not in the crotch, but big deal–we’ve seen worse and there’s a certain vulnerability you allow yourself when trying to do the greater good.
As I told my students today–you will have been filled with and exposed to all these great works and ideas and lessons throughout the year, but I will probably end up being remembered for having a hole in my jeans.
That’s the way it works sometimes. Time to throw them away and move on. As Huxley would tell us, Ending is better than mending.