Sixth Graders

I taught a wonderful group of sixth graders recently.  The middle school is enormous and there are almost a thousand kids who go there, which in my opinion is way too many, but I have to give them credit for how the powers that be have handled the sixth grade.  The kids are mainly in their own wing and there are three teams.  Each team has four teachers and about a hundred kids.  The kids on the team have one of the four teachers as their homeroom teacher.  The kids in the same homeroom stay with each other for their core classes so they get to know each other pretty well.  The four teachers on the team keep each other abreast of any problems or issues going on with kids on the team.  There is a clipboard that goes with each of the four groups of kids to every class.  On that, teachers can make notes for other team teachers concerning the kids.  They also make notes for students who are absent.  It's a pretty good system.

Anyway, I was teaching for the math teacher on one of the three teams.  I had the homeroom group for reading, language and math, and then the other three groups on the team for math class as well.  Reading class starts with a read aloud book.  I was about to start when someone said, "Are we supposed to sit in our assigned seats?"  I said, "Are you usually supposed to sit in your assigned seats for read aloud?"  They said yes so I said, "Then you need to sit in your assigned seats."  Someone else asked, "Can we draw while you read?"  I said, "Can you usually draw while the teacher reads?"  No, not usually.  So no, they couldn't draw today either.  Then I was about to get started.  I half-sat on a table at the front of the room and just as I opened my mouth to start, the sweet-looking boy sitting at that table said quietly, "She doesn't usually sit on my table when she reads."  I gave him my best pseudo-scathing look and dramatically slid my rear off the table.  The kids laughed.  I laughed.  They were fun.