Boys

 I make students take off their hats and hoods during school.  The hoods are the real battle.  

"But whyyyyyyy?" one of them whined.

"Because."

Days later, when we were working on our old nemesis, opinion papers, I said that they had to have reasons and "because" wasn't a good reason.

A boy said, "But teacher.  Remember when you said we couldn't wear hoods in class 'because'?"

Well, I wasn't writing an opinion essay at the time....

But I said, "Yes.  So I will give you my reasons.  It is not polite or appropriate to wear hoods or hats at school and when you wear a hood, I can't see your face."

I smiled sweetly.

"And I want to see your face!"

Sometimes the more bugged I am, the nicer I act.

Not always though.

The boys want to wear their hats or hoods when they "have a bad hair day," which is 3rd grade code for they rolled out of bed and have major bed head.

The other day a boy took off his hood and he had some wild hair going on.  Another boy teased him and I said, "Oh, I don't know.  I think it looks kind of cool like that." (Because in actuality it doesn't matter at all in the scheme of things if a third grader has bed head.)

Right before recess, he grabbed his scissors, those little student safety scissors that barely cut paper? He lopped off a big hunk of his hair that was sticking up, carried it outside and released it in the breeze.  I didn't say a word.

What does one say in that situation?

***

I have another boy whose behavior was so egregious at recess that he had to miss two recesses per the principal.  I had been in communication with his mother and she is the kind of mother that got down to it.  He came to school with a card for me outlying his apology and his plan for the future.

With a mother like that, the kid will be OK.

Yesterday he was with me during lunch recess.  He said cheerfully, "This is not the longest I've ever had to miss recesses.  In second grade, I had to miss a whole week once."

***

They are third grade boys.

They are good at it.