May 3rd, 2011 (Week 2)

Miss Q came outside to chaos.

Dexter and Fruitbat are bad drivers.

"Miss Q wekeephittingsharpturns and both of our kids are lying bleeding on the floor!"
"Who's driving this thing?"
"I am! It's Fruitbat's fault! She was supposed to make me coffee this morning!"
"Why didn't you make him coffee this morning???"
"I DON"T KNOW!"

It was pretty bad. Sitting on the swings, Fruitbat and Dexter apparently started off on a peaceful drive with their imaginary family. But it was hardly a minute before the Chippettes ran up. Nancy Drew was jumping up and down over the little tyke that said the s-word (gasp)... sexy. Or at least I think that's what they were excited about. Princesstard talks fast when she's excited.

"Let's go back to see if he'll do it again!"
Then Co-pilot and Mariska raced to see who would tag Miss Q first today. I forget who won.

Speaking of winning, Miss Q and the turtles had a fun bet today. On my right Miss Bieber and Beancurd. In front of me in order was Nala, Fate, Uniqua and Skinny Jeanz who was now on crutches thanks to a softball accident. It might be the second time this year.

The Girls table (which always includes Beancurd) was fun and interesting. Miss Q had been wondering how Fate and Uniqua became so buddy-buddy this week. Fate actually explained.
"I started hanging out with them a few days. Just not at recess. Cause so-and-so doesn't like me." Then they talked and talked. Fate even talked to Beancurd. Or tried to. She told him he better be nice to her, since she gave him that thing. "Yak yak yak" said Beancurd. Which is what Beancurd likes to do. Except he was stangely quiet.

Like clockwork he eventually got up to leave to go take his medicine, leaving half of a sub. Wait.

What?

"Whoah. Beancurd's eating!" Miss Q announced, awed because a fourth grader was eating at lunch.
"I know!" said Miss Beiber. Beancurd almost never ate. That's why he's a Beancurd.

Soon Miss Q had a bet with Miss Bieber. I said he would eat all the rest of his sandwhich when he came back. Miss Bieber said he would only eat half. If Miss Beiber won, she'd get Miss Q's visitor sticker. The rest of The Girls agreed to stay quiet and not mention it to see what happens.

"Miss Rrrrrr." We waved at Miss R. Laughing, because Miss Q didn't say her name loud enough.
"Quick, act normal."

As soon as Beancurd came back, the turtles made these very subtle gestures to manipulate the outcome.

"Eat it already!!"
"No, don't finish it."
"Shhhh. AHHAHa"

It was major fun. Miss Beiber and I laughed anough to add years to our lives. Beancurd eventually finished his sandwhich, drawing out the last chews as long as possible. Miss Q got to keep her sticker.

This was before they got in line and Beancurd apparently did something awful.

I told Co-Pilot to try and be forgiving toward Mook and why he was probably acting annoying and that he probably actually wanted to be friends.

After cursive during reading time, Miss Beiber said,

"Miss Q, I know Beancurd's gonna talk to me. Can he move?"

Hmmm.

We made a deal. If Beancurd talked, Miss Beiber would get Miss Q's visitor sticker. I ended up keeping it.

But not before Beancurd came up to Miss Q twice. How do you pronounce sea anemone? Have you ever seen piranha?

After a deep discussion on both topics, Miss Q noticed a pattern.

Whenever faced with the challenge of not talking. Beancurd had plenty of questions. I thought this was something positive. Later of course, I found out he had told Rickster to 'move aside fatty' right in front of Miss R, who was mortified.

Miss Q was a bit embarrassed. I wonder if his family may have thought in endearing at first, how he says the first thing that comes to his mind. But other than that, it was a good day.

2/22/11: Ready. Aim... (Blog 6)

When Miss Q walked over to the playground yesterday, one particular awkward turtle was there walking a lap as if purposely placed there for Miss Q's sake.

Beancurd.

And he was upset over something. Yes.

"I don't like Miz Boss at all." he said. "She always picks on me. Even My momma says so. And when Miss Bieber was doing such-and-such..." Miss Q let him vent anxiously for a bit.

"You do talk a lot." she reminded evenly.

"Yeah, but I just don't think it's fair."

"Hey look, every time I see you, you're always so anxious. Like someone's gonna ignore you or push you around or treat you unfairly. You're thinkin' you have to be so defensive but no one else sees you that way. No one's gonna push you around. Not if I can help it. Do you think I'd let anybody push you around if I could help it?"

"No." he said, looking only slightly less anxious.

Miss Q figured it was at least a good start. She pictured herself being able to say, "Hey what happened? You didn't have to do that. I said I wouldn't let people push you around, remember?" Beancurd is small, but Miss Q wants him to act big.

After that, the Gage, Freakazoid, and Mook came over and they were all excited because apparently, Freakazoid got caught in the middle of a sandstorm. That kind of thing is always fun.

Memphis was back. He hangs sort of aloof from everybody. He's one you can tell, isn't really into being in full compliance with the group. School for him so far meant getting in trouble. Though quiet on the outset, at every other moment he was intent on getting away with his own thing. He talks to Miss Q, though.

"I was raised in the ghetto." he says in his natural southern drawl at lunch when Miss Q comments on his tough-guy demeanor. Hmm.

"Shut up." he says suddenly to The Gage. "I'm mad at you." After a beat he says, "My brother was a fighter. He does UFC, wrestling... He taught me how to fight." He went on to explain that he had punched or fought every boy at the table at least once exluding Dexter and the Brit. The boys then talked about the various kids he had challenged. You could tell they thought Memphis was cool, if not particularly nice.

"His future's a bit scary." remarked Miz Boss, watching Memphis at his mischief in the bathroom.

I know you don't like getting in trouble all the time.

The words were starting to form in Miss Q's head. What to say to him. How to draw him in. This is one of the things that guy at the conference said. They really don't like getting in trouble all the time. Acknowledge it. When they're at their worse, don't just send them away. Draw them into you.

That day, Miss Q remembered to say happy birthday to Fruitbat, who's sleepover had been this Saturday. Uniqua attended, but Miss Bieber wasn't able to come.

Nala's brother was coming home the next day for his birthday and the same age as Miss Q's brother. He was 21, celebrating 'becoming a man', and "sorta skipped college". himself since 'he's a man'. Today, instead of a loose ponytail with flyaways, Nala's hair had been intricately cornrowed into a neat bun with a scrunchy that reminded you of confetti. Her mother had done it, so that meant she was back home for her birthday. Miss Q smiled, happy for Nala because of the way her own mother used to do up her hair.

"You shouldn't be afraid of him." said Nala, refering to Memphis' tough reputation. She and Memphis weren't exactly getting along that day.

"The only person I'm afraid of is my brother." she said with obvious respect and reverence.

They turned off the lights at lunch and everyone was quiet. Mook, Freakazoid, and The Gage had been loud and they got pointed out. Zefron?

"They act like this is some kind of fancy restaurant."

During work The Gage sometimes gets a bit loopy, looking over other people's papers and things like that. It was funny to watch Princesstard try to be diplomatic after saying several times, they'd already fixed an answer on the board.

He definitely gets loopy with cursive. The Gage has a way of letting you know he doesn't like an assignment without saying anything about it. However, he seeemed intent on doing it.

"My cursive stinks." he says holding out his paper, chin laid out on the desk.

"Hmm. It actually looks better than if you'd never tried. It actually looks better than yesterday's." said Miss Q. In all honesty, Miss Q had no idea what his cursive looked like yesterday. But the important thing was that in doing it, he was, in fact getting better than if he hadn't done it.

"It's hard..." he lets Miss Q know again as she walks away.

Lining up to go to gym, Miz Boss was doing her thing to motivate the kids. Exactly the thing Miss Q had in mind to start doing.

"Everything turns out better if you work as a team. Take for example..." she said, searching. Miss Q had been in a musical recently.

"A play." Her eyes widened as she smiled. she had seen Miss Q in Hairspray.

"A perfect example. When you're on stage, if everyone does their part right (you were fabulous by the way Miss Q) only then does it look good. One person can't support the whole show by doing their best. Everyone has to help the team out. I want some footballs from you guys." Footballs were for good class behavior.

"And can I add one thing?" asked Miss Q. "There are some of you that do what they're supposed to even when no one's watching. I want all of you to be like that."

Miss Q looked at Freakazoid, Mook, and The Gage. She had gotten their attention.

In gym they were really goin' for it. Everyone sat quietly on the first step, paying full attention. Although unclear whether by choice, The Gage was sitting apart from Mook and Freakazoid and was paying attention.

"You're doing good Gage." Miss Q made sure to tell him. It's good for him to hear positive things for a change.

The gym lady came over with a friendly smile and asked about Miss Q. Yep, I go to Such-and-such High School. I'm here for Teacher Cadet. It's fun with them, isn't it?

"What were you sayin' to them just now?" She has a bright voice and a slight southern accent that Miss Q likes.

"I want them to have integrity." said Miss Q, making sure they could hear her. "'Cause not enough people in this world have it."

That day in gym, the awkward turtles all went to get jump ropes. Right. Easy. Miss Q removed her heels. As Miss Q made her stupid way to the middle of the floor with her jump rope, Gym Lady announced that first they would be doing a couple of warm-ups first.

It was intense! Miss Q had to go around the rope galloping, hopping from side to side, duck squats and other things she had never even heard of. But in the midst of it, a competition between The Gage had developed as they counted to ten.
"Ha, Miss Q, I got there first!"
"No fair, my rope is bigger!"

Miss Q decided it was worth all the effort to see him smiling so much and having fun with her. Freakazoid obviously wanted in on it. We did "180's" back and forth across the jump ropes.

"I do 180's on my skateboard!" said Freakazoid. "Don't we, Gage.?"
"Sure you do." said Miss Q, messing with them. "Miss Q does 180's on her skateboard all the time, too."

Today, cool things happened.

I was slightly off about Beancurd. It was Mook who reminded him that he needed to do his Owl Project, so he didn't just interact with the girls exclusively. Freakazoid showed Miss Q a 25$ Amazon.com gift card he'd found.
"Really? Wow, you get to buy Miss Q something!"
"Nuooo."

In the lunch line, Miss Q asked the Gage how he did for the rest of the time at gym after she left.
"Good. I sweated harder than everybody."

In class Miz Boss took a few minutes to go to the bathroom. While still quiet, their tiny whispers got just a few decibel's louder. Because kids are smart, they can sense the difference between Miz Boss' talking limit and Miss Q's. However, Dubby and Princesstard were starting to talk to The Gage in a normal tone.

As Miss Q looked at The Gage a funny thing happened. Suddenly he stopped talking.

"Guys, not so loud." He said, looking back at me. Princesstard and Dubby looked at him like 'are you serious?' but he meant it.

Why would he do that?

You're doing good, Gage.
How'd you do at gym while I was gone?
Your cursive's better than it was yesterday.

Was that it?

Today, during cursive, he wanted Miss Q to sit next to him. She was happy to.
"See my cursive today? Look how good the 'd' is..."
He wanted to look at all Miss Q's Visitor Sticker photos. Between assignments, Miss Q obliged, amazed that she was as interesting to him as he was to her.

During the computer lab, The Gage was not allowed to sit by Mook or Freakazoid. Watching him stare off into space, 'sharpen' his pencil, and lean back in his chair, Miz Boss and Miss Q exchanged glances.

The Gage always started during these online answer-from-the-article assignments. Miss Q decided to sit beside him. That helped him get started. However, soon enough...

"This is hard." Reading wasn't really Gage's thing. He likes math.
"It's just like cursive."

Miss Q tried to urge him through number two and told him to keep working before she had to leave. As she walked out the door she whispered, "Bye guys, keep working hard, you can do it." nodding her head yes as
The Gage shook his head no. The Gage was just being The Gage, of course. Miss Q knows he can do it.

Miz Boss took the opportunity to show her sentimental side, which comes out often when talking about the turtles.
"It's so interesting to picture them as teenagers. Here, I've got some pictures I have to show you..."

The Gage as a teenager would definately be interesting.

2/04/11: Puxatani Field Day? (Blog 1)

'Hopefully the stick I put in the door will still be there' thought Miss Q as she left the Ashley building.

The door was usually locked from the outside. You couldn't get back in and therefore you had to walk all the way to the front of the school to get back in for lunch. Not Miss Q. Hopefully, no one would remove the stick and no insane shooters would sneak in.

As always, the Anderson hallways were brightly lit and there was plenty of cheer to go around. Like a disease, it had even spread to the custodians. Elementary staff is like that.

By the time Miss Q arrived, Miz Boss was about to line the kids up for lunch. Miss Q wondered what would happened if she tried to walk in sort of nonchalantly. You know. Incognito.

"MISS Q!!"

Not Happening. When they lined up, Miss Q got to observe a great moment though. The Boss was not happy.

"I am sick and tired of gum chewing in this classroom. Really! I'm tired of asking. Miss Beiber, Monet, you have an N now." Aww man. Monet gave a huff. Miss Bieber as always had her usual sly look. The whole class was silent however. Miz Boss's bad side, though never loud or abrasive and carried out in a business-like tone, wasn't a comfy spot.

"I stopped Miz Boss. I haven't chewed any gum." said Beancurd, deciding it a good time to clear his name.

"No. Actually you did. I saw you yesterday."

'Shouldn't have said anything, Beancurd' thought Miss Q.

There would be some drama for her to try to sort out at lunch. However on the way to lunch, Nancy Drew had a fact to deliver.

"Happy Puxatanifield Day! (AKA Groundhog Day)" Miss Q made sure to write that down...

Isn't Groundhog day in the Spring?

"Miss Q, why is your hair so puffy?" CP (that stands for Class President), always with tons of enthusiasm, wanted to know.
Good question. Miss Q's curly afro was indeed something worth assessing. Miz Boss saved her though.

"What dya think happened to my hair. Yeah, wind. Wind." Haha.

Miss Q ended up dealing with plenty of drama at lunch.
Beancurd and Miss Beiber have an ongoing, intense, malicious and backbiting rivalry. Despite this, the two still prefer to always be near each other. Kind of like two cats who try to walk away but always go back because they refuse to leave their backs open.

Monet was also mad at Beancurd for being a 'snitch'. Miss Q felt she did a pretty good job of handling that one.

"...So who's fault is it you got in trouble?"
A huff.
"Mine." she admitted. Miss Q was proud of Monet's humility... odd as that sounds.
"So can we give Beancurd a break?"
"Yes..."

After that, Miss Q was kept busy all throughout lunch trying to distract Beancurd from his focus on Miss Beiber. He actually came and sat next to Miss Q to explain what was going on. She did her best to point out that for every three "she did this"s he had sneakily snuck in something he had done to keep the drama going.

"So what should you do next time?" asked Miss Q
"Tell the teacher. But I did and she kept..."

So then Miss Q decided to help him calm down by distracting him. Turn around Beancurd. That's right. So, you go to the Mustard Seed?

The Mustard Seed is where Miss Q wants to work during the summer. She considers it an extenstion of her childhood afterschool program, the Brigade Boys and Girls club, because it's run by the same people. Fate, who sat across from me, simply wasn't invested in all the drama. We did get some discussion in about the Mustard Seed (Fate goes there) and she said she would beg the people to let me work there.

Miss Q loves Fate very much.

Fate loves attention, but at least she interrupted politely. Lately, Miss Q had been teaching the chilluns to say "Excuse me", when they simply can't hold in their statements.

Miss Q ought to watch Miss Bieber though. By almost all accounts she seems to be the center of most of the trouble. By the time she gets to her, she's all sly smile, half-lidded eyes, and a shrug.

Miz Boss had one last message for everyone when they got back:

Don't get mad because you got caught. Tattling, chewing gum, and name-calling are not cool. It's wrong to tattle but it's also wrong to break the rule to begin with. Now, were done. I'm very upset with you.

Now notice why Miss Q loves Miz Boss. The kids look at her almost like you would a court judge or someone completely trustworthy. She doesn't go for excuses.  Miz Boss often becomes the Overseer of Justice in sticky situations. But just from watching her, Miss Q has learned to imitate that quality. During lunch, Miss Q began to pull out kids to talk to them, and she became the Overseer of Justice. But the most amazing thing was that Miss Q, despite only being Miss Q, had earned the right to judge somehow.
Somewhere along the way, she had become trustworthy enough to handle the great complaint of She's Talking About Me.

Even now, Miss Q sort of puffs out her chest. "Of course they come to me." she insists. "They know I watch them. They know they better have their stories straight."

Of course, Miss Beiber and Beancurd will probably still be at it the next day.

"I saw you say something to him, Miss Beiber. I hope it was nice!"