Saturday, February 28, 2009

Moments with Joey – Inappropriateness

Pin It
SCENE 1, INTERIOR. MORNING, FIFTH GRADE CLASSROOM. The teacher is standing at the front of the class; he is pointing out a series of vocabulary words written on the dry erase board. Students are giving the definition and are using the said words correctly in either an example or sentence.

TEACHER:
Now, whose word is ‘rallied’?

[A hand shoots in the air. The teacher indicates the student who promptly replies.]

STUDENT 1: It means to come together as a group.

TEACHER: Excellent! Would you please give me an example using your word?

[Student thinks for a moment before answering.]

STUDENT 1: The class rallied together at the assembly in the gym.

TEACHER: Fantastic! Whose word is this?

[Teacher points at the word ‘deadline’. Another student raises her hand and responds with the correct definition.]

TEACHER: Would you please give me an example of ‘deadline’?

STUDENT 1: Our literature responses are due on Monday; that’s the deadline.

TEACHER: Wonderful!

[The teacher points to one of the final words on the board. The word is ‘inappropriate.’ A boy’s hand punches the air.]

TEACHER: Would you please tell me the definition of the word, ‘inappropriate’?

JOEY: To do something not socially acceptable for where you are.

TEACHER: Would you please give me an example of ‘inappropriate’?

[Joey pauses, thinking.]

JOEY: Yeah, pooping in your pants during class.

[General laughter percolates the classroom as the teacher stands, speechless. He nervously glances about the room, unsure of just how to proceed at this point. After an uncomfortable beat he continues.]

TEACHER: Right, Joey. That would be inappropriate.

JOEY: [Spoken quietly] That’s why I’ll never do it.

Fade to black.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Dang funny! We have a serial pooper! Now that's inappropriate.

Gerb said...

I'm not sure what to say... I am speechless. But I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for this one!

annette said...

You always know how to get a laugh out of me. Oh the joys of teaching! I'm going to have to ask Red Pepper about that one!

Danielle said...

Wow.... :P
Not really using it in sentence....but I guess its an example! HAhA

Leah Z said...

I am so glad you were able to handle that so well. No point in getting mad -- his answer showed he completely understood the word. I suppose there are a lot of other ways it could have gone that would have been worse.

"#$*& is inappropriate to say in school," for example.

K.J. said...

Loved it! I got a good chuckle out of that one!
Love it!

mywest said...

Sounds like something Jesse would have said back in Summit Valley..you would have to admit he was wise beyond his years and a deep thinker.

ablackman said...

What would you have done if he had farted out-loud as he responded?

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...