Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Moments with Joey – Piñatas, ice cream, & bike chains

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SCENE 1, INTERIOR. MORNING, FIFTH GRADE CLASSROOM. The clock reads 8:00 a.m. A few students are in the room working on assignments while the teacher is checking his email. The door opens suddenly and in walks one of his fifth grade students. The boy is carrying a cereal box wrapped in shredded tissue paper; he walks up to his teacher and waits for a moment.

JOEY:
I brought you a piñata.

TEACHER: A piñata? What for?

[The boy points to his piñata].

JOEY:
It’s for my Spelling assignment. It said to make a piñata and hide my words inside of it, so I did.

[The teacher takes the box and hears the hollow movement of something inside which couldn’t possibly be slips of paper. He narrows his eyes suspiciously].


TEACHER:
What’s inside your piñata?

JOEY:
Candy; for you.

TEACHER:
Oh, I thought it was dog food.

[The boy starts to laugh as the teacher clicks ‘send’ for the email to his principal about field day].


TEACHER:
Now, just why would I think you’d give me dog food?

JOEY:
[Shrugs]. Not sure…we don’t have a dog so it’d have to have been cat food. [Pause]. Or fish food…we have one of those.

TEACHER:
Wow, I feel honored.

[The boy stands beaming for several seconds and then sits in one of the empty chairs at the back table].


JOEY:
What are you working on?

TEACHER:
It’s a surprise.

JOEY:
[Face brightens]. I know! It’s ice cream for everyone!

TEACHER:
If you think it’s ice cream, I wonder just whose class you’ve been in all year…

JOEY:
Well, yours.

TEACHER:
And do I give out ice cream?

JOEY:
I was thinking you might at the beginning of the year.

TEACHER:
But I didn’t give out ice cream, did I?

JOEY: No, but I was hoping…and waiting.

TEACHER:
Well, keep dreaming, boy…keep dreaming.

JOEY:
Maybe if I do keep dreaming it will come true then.

TEACHER:
You know, sometimes I worry about you…

[The boy stops as the teacher continues to answer his email. After a few moments the boy speaks up again].


JOEY:
The chain fell off my bike last night and got wrapped around my heart…

TEACHER:
Welcome to my life…

[Fade to black].

7 comments:

K.J. said...

Teaching is a wonderful thing...I love kids!

World of Wife Craft said...

I love it, love it, love it. I should write some of my student stories.

Anonymous said...

Kids are great! Enjoy them while you can - summer break is almost here. P.S. That Joey is pretty creative. Hope he's well. :D

Gerb said...

Wait... you don't bring your students ice cream on a regular basis?

Anonymous said...

Love the parting lines.

Bee said...

Aww... I wonder how you get so many "Joeys" worth writing about... I'm guessing there's never a dull day in your classroom.

Teachinfourth said...

KJ - They can sure be a kick in the pants, can't they?

S - You should...I bet you have some winners.

C - I will miss him next year; however, I also know that he'll come to visit me. Also, there'll be another Joey next year...I can already tell.

G - Guess I'm not a very good teacher.

L - He comes up with some zingers.

B - You'd be surprised how many I have that I haven't written about...far too many to count, to be honest!

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