Love is in the (classroom) air!!!

Rules?  More like suggestions...

There are some rules that we have that most of us just ignore.  For instance, that whole speed limit thing – not even police officers and judges obey that one!  I mean, as long as you’re within a reasonable speed, usually we get away with breaking this rule.  The same thing holds true about rules in the classroom.  For instance, one rule every classroom in every school has is,

  

“No Passing Notes in Class”

It’s a rule, but seriously, has anyone NOT ever passed a note in class before?  I guess some things never change, as about 6 weeks ago, I intercepted this note that was being passed in my classroom:

Hey Eric*, this is Nadia*.  I REALLY REALLY like you, do you like me?  Put a check:

o       Yes

o       No

o       Kind of

Hilarious!!!

Classroom Casanova

Another rule that we have in our school is that students are not allowed to date.  Now, I had always felt this was another one of those rules that wasn’t strictly enforced – usually the consequence of students ‘dating’ in elementary school is some light-hearted jesting at their expense:

Teacher:  “So, you and Savannah* are going out?”

Student:   “Yup!"

Teacher:  “Where are you going?”

Student:  “What do you mean?”

Teacher:  “Going out means you’re going somewhere, right?”

Student:  “Uhh…”

Teacher:  “Are you going to the movies?  Is your mom going to drop you off?”

Ahh, the joy of belittling a little kid!  Good thing dating isn't all that prevalent at my school.  On my end, I’ve always just told students that what happens outside of school is fine – I just don’t want it to be a distraction.  And, until this year, this policy has worked out just fine.  But this year, I happen to have a little Casanova in my classroom.  My student Eric, who I’ve known and been close with since he was in 3^rd grade, has had more girlfriends in the 2 months we’ve been in school than I’ve had over the past 2 years!  OK, so maybe that is more of an indictment of my social life than anything, but you get my point.  First, it was Nadia.  Then, Alana, Katherine, and Meredith, and back again to Katherine.  Eric sure is popular with the ladies!

The Rhyme, and the Reason

This really wasn’t a huge concern of mine at first – usually, ‘dating’ in the 5^th grade is not much of a classroom distraction and in reality, is mostly entertaining, cute, and ever so occasionally it stirs up creative juices not seen in their everyday classwork.  Take this note Katherine sent to Eric a few weeks ago:

Here’s a little girl who hates writing and anything associated with writing, and she put more on that little note than I’ve ever seen her put down in structured writing times.  How could I be mad?? 

Sadly, a few days later I had to put an end to their ‘relationship’ because of a huge scene (all very innocent, thankfully) they caused in the library.  I was willing to look the other way when it was hard to notice, but my star-crossed lovers demonstrated why dating is frowned upon at my school by becoming an obvious distraction.  I guess in this way, this rule is kind of like speeding.  Breaking the rule is accepted as long as no one really notices!

*Names changed