The Order of Things (Blog 17)

The Order of Things

There are some things that surprise Miss Q about elementary.

The turtles seem to have a self-awareness of themselves in the social pecking order of things. The same awareness that Miss Q now remembers she had herself in fourth grade.

There are several groups in the class.
The "boy band" The Atomic Ponies, with Zefron, Dubby, Co-Pilot, Boo, and Solomon.

Their sophisticated female counterparts the Chippettes: Mariska, Nancy Drew, and Princesstard.

The two bright best friends, somewhat considered sissies: Dexter and The Brit.

The Trio: Freakazoid, Mook, and The Gage.

The Girls (popular?): Uniqua/Miwok, Miss Beiber, Skinny Jeanz and ... Beancurd. Have to explain that one sometime.

And the rest are somewhat misfits. Fate gets along consistently with few classmates. Rickster is just the opposite. He's the tallest of the class, talks slowly, has a largish frame. He just wants to chill, man. Fruitbat sometimes hangs out with the Girls but sees herself as the weird, quirky chick. She can't stand Fate. Memphis often shows off in misbehavior in front of the girls. The boy band and the rest of the boys think he's pretty bad to the bone and all that, but find him unapproachable. Nala sometimes doesn't seem as accepted, but it doesn't appear to bother her.

This is what the class is like, I think to a 4th grader experiencing it. There's good pressure and bad pressure. The boy band to me has the most positive, drama free, and fun connections. However I worry about the Girls (along with Beancurd). They're nice to me, but not nearly as nice to everyone else. Uniqua is a prime example. I feel like because of her charm, grades, or all-star quality she gets away with a lot of harsh words. Especially towards Fate.

Of all the groups, Miss Q has yet to have one-on-one interaction with any of The Girls. They're always together, acting up as a unit. And the clique-ish quality makes a Cadet uneasy. Miss Q hopes that now that she realizes this, she can influence them to want to think for themselves and have a better influence on each other.

Miss Q has made sure to let Fate know she's allowed to switch to other table if she gets too angry. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

This is normal, right?

I don't want my turtles to be normal.

The new goal (coming to me as I write) is to change the status quo amongst the turtles. We lack chemistry, it's been said. We don't mesh. Oddballs. What needs to be done now is to make sure that values that are really lasting are at the top of the pecking order, and things like the phantom elementary "popularity" are at the bottom.

The cool thing about elementary school, or specifically Awkward Admiral Elementary, is rather than just pushing them through test scores, the teachers really care about what the students are like. This just isn't the same in a high school. It goes along with the character education bit in the curriculum and is necessary and practical to run a classroom but values are sincere and genuine. In elementary school, one of the most important things is learning how to be in a classroom. That's what's so great about it.

For Fate sometimes being in a classroom means stess and rejection. For Memphis on some days it means showing out to get attention, to keep a tough devil-may-care attitude. TheBut there are countless moments when being part of a classroom means being part of a classroom.

The silence that falls when the teacher demands silence and means it. The cheer when the class earns Footballs in P.E. Reminding each other (gently or not) which of their assignments is missing. Answering questions earnestly. I hope I never take for granted being apart of that.

3/21/11: My Own Boy Band, The Atomic Ponies (Blog 10)

"Bye Atomic Ponies bandleader." Zefron whispers as Miss Q exits the computer room.

"I thought you were the leader."

"Oh right... well, you're the manager."

Zefron, all warm brown eyes, and outstanding sense of humor heads what Miss Q calls her "boy band."

On a very interesting day when Miss Q went with the awkward turtles to play soccer for P.E (remind her to tell you about it) Miss Q remembered afterward a comment the coach made about the classroom.

"I guess there's just a weird chemistry going on in this class. They don't seem to mix so well."

This was of course referring to the turtles P.E performance. There had been some spectacular moments. Miss Q got them excited, got them to chant about teamwork and how awesome they were gonna do in the class together.

...And then Uniqua (who now wants to be called Miwok) let loos her sassy mouth on Fate and Fate broke down into tears on the sidelines. As Miss Q gently encouraged her to get back in, the morale of the teams seemed to sink from their, dissolving into general irritation at one another's lack of performance.

"It's usually the girls." Noted Lady Finch.
"You guys are gonna be around each other for a long time. Ya'll should start learning to get along." Said Coach.
"You're kids are crazy." Said Stewbeef, although at that point, when they were excited, Miss Q thinks he meant in a good way.

But a weird chemistry? Did Miss Q's class just not blend well like oil and water. Maybe. Fate so far has yet to get along with anyone in the classroom on a consistent basis without having to take herself out of the situation. Her method that she's learned is to isolate herself when she's angry, which is good, but Miss Q still wants her to figure out new ways to handle her emotional issues.

The Gage, Freakazoid, and Mook hanging out together is usually trouble, althoug Miss Q has amazing incidents to report for bothe of them. Nala is another mystery. The other girls seem to shun her at times, maybe because of her looks. She's a very dark girl with lines crisscrossing her face that remind you of scars.

"Quit acting like you're popular." Fate often lashes at Nala, who is often one her only allies. The class seems to have come to a general consensus on Fate. We may not be allowed to show meanness to her but we sure don't have to try to be nice to her. If only they weren't practically the same treatment?

Uniqua and Miss Beiber have sassy mouths and are very sly. Even catty. And Rickster? Well, he just wants to eat his lunch and chill.

So with troublemaking groups, catty mouths, and flaring tempers, does our group just have any chemistry?

Only if you know where to look. Five boys: Zefron (the funny one), Boo (the quiet one), Solomon (the wild one), Dubby (The One who does all the tricks with his arms) and Co-Pilot (The red-headed jovial one).

They sit together at lunch, play together at the playground, cheer for each other during Sparkle. Each of the friendships between them are very different and complicated.

One day two weeks ago, The band minus Solomon came running up to Miss Q.

"Solomon's being really mean!"
"Yeah! He gets like this sometimes. He pulled me by my arm into the ground!"
"And he says that word F** a lot."

The meaning was clear, as Miss Q noticed Solomon walking sullenly by himself. The group together had decided that, even though he was mostly a good friend, his behavior as of late was unacceptable and therefore they had to reject him.

In the lunch line, Miss Q asked them what they would do. It was Zefron who responded.

"I think we'll give him another chance."

This is when Miss Q first noticed the powerful dynamic in this little group. There was camraderie, there was order, and their was leadership.

"Ya'll are gonna be my boy band." Miss Q explained to them one day. She had a private word with Zefron.

"Now, whether you realize it or not, what you do influences the group. You have leadership qualities, so guess who I'm looking at whenever you and Co-pilot goof off in line?"

"I don't care." Zefron looks thoughtful for a moment. His body language betrays his words. He seemed to be figuring out if he like the weight of the 'responsibility' on one hand and the chance for extra praise on the other.

From that moment on, the boys took it from there, dubbing themselves the Atomic Ponies. They like it. And Miss Q will continue to find ways to work their natural group chemistry to her advantage. And man is it fun. The collective trust you get from them is priceless.

Speaking of groups.

"Miss Q. Miss Q!" It's Princesstard. As usual she is with Mariska and Nancy Drew, a sophisticated girl trio that remind me uncannily of the Chippettes (you know the girl chipmunks that were always trippin' about Alvin and the boys and offset them so well?)

"Were making a movie! It's like a reality t.v show. In order to get The Atomic Ponies to be in it, they're making us find them hot girlfriends and paying them 50$!"

What? In the lunch line when Zefron was asking honestly, do you see any hot girls around here?, Miss Q pointed to Mariska. His not-so-secret-admirer. Bad Miss Q!

He could barely find a comeback for embarrassment. Zefron said he didn't really want a girlfriend anyway. Good.

I could never find enough space to blog about the things I've seen. Perhaps one day, I'll have a blog-a-thon.

3/02/11: Fate Vs The Gage (Blog 8)

A tall 5th grade girl with braids spiking in a high ponytail bounced happily out of the room. She was a regular appearance in the classroom and her affection often squeezed the life out of Miz Boss.

"Ok." Announced Miz Boss in her level alto after her departure. "I just got a message from Yugochi. Mrs. Blox is a bit busy, so we'll be having art inside.

Miss Q was sitting beside Nancy Drew, but she was focused on the two sitting at the table beside her.

It was a bit of an twist to see that they just happened to sit beside each other after their argument at lunch, but eventually, eventually, the Gage conceded.
"I'll shut up now."
That was after Miss Q heard him still saying something and said it sounded an awful lot like "I want to sit by myself during Art."

After and not before some drama.

Fate, surprise of surprises, was actually the innocent party this time.
Ok, well there's no such thing as an innocent part in a 4th grade argument, but it wasn't Fate that Miss Q was slightly miffed at today. Fate had continually looked at Miss Q despairingly for what to do. As if to say, "You see? I really am trying. He is making me so mad. What should I do."

But The Gage had been offended. And when you offend The Gage he becomes like some kind of animal that will. not. budge. This time after what seemed like a civil discussion with Fate about why she didn't get the leadership position she wanted, The Gage started to bug her. Miss Q probably made it worse. I mean annoying Fate and getting Miss Q in a tizzy? Oh what fun! When Fate tried to sit somewhere, he followed her. Miss Q got up in his face, and afterward he sat down and changed the subject. Miss Q knew he still hadn't gotten the point so she tried a different route.

"I know you can act nicer than that. It makes me sad to see you act like that."

"No, I can't. Liar."

The Gage likes to get away with things. Miss Q finds it sort of easy not to take it personally, since he's like that with everyone. But today was a bit more intense (inside Miss Q's head if not in her actions) because she felt like she just had to get him to leave Fate alone.

Fate did good that day. Miss Q encouraged her through The Gage's pestering. What killed Miss Q was that he wasn't content to let her steam in the corner. He wanted to see her get upset. How frustrating. But if that were a test, then Fate would have somewhat passed.

Wow. Miss Q, now that you think about it, what does that mean? The Gage wanted to see Fate lose her cool. So what must you not do around The Gage? 

While The Gage is very loveable, and has fun with Miss Q, he still has these moments where nothing seems to bother him when it comes to him doing what he wants. Also, Miss Q realized that he is a great influence on Mook. Mook is very compliant without the presence of The Gage, then those are the times when he seems to get the guts to not follow directions.

Miss Q wonders how she could have handled it better. One thing she tends to do is just sit there and watch the turtles when they start to argue to see how they handle it. Perhaps not such a good idea?

In another blog I should write about these special appearances and antics of other Teacher Cadets. For example, Lady Finch.

Miss Q: Trying to get her bathroom stragglers, Mook, The Gage, Fate, and Nala to go to the room. Mentally focused on avoiding power struggle.

Lady Finch: Hi Miss Q!

Miss Q: Wha? Oh Hi!!

Lady Finch stepped in for a moment. But here's the funny part. After she left:

Zefron: "Why did that Lady say she's read about me?"

Miss Q: "Umm... she's crazy?"

Zefron: "Ok."

Honestly, Lady Finch. It was the only thing Miss Q could come up with.

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.

2/16/11: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: It All Hangs Out (Blog 4)

Miss Q's about to give you an honest breakdown of what went on today. The sitch. The skinny. Things that were good and some things that make me wonder if I was thinking at all? It's weird to write it. You usually don't think. You react.

Yesterday afternoon I had one of those fits of inspiration. They come in short creative bursts and I entertain some really awful ideas For instance, ever fought out an argument in your head? The scene goes off flawlessly as you script your artful version of Telling Someone Off. You're furious and angry but somehow your reasoning is flawless. Finally you hear a chorus of amens as your opponent goes to eat their humble pie.

Yeah, not that kind of idea this time. It never goes down like that in real life anyway.

This time I was thinking about how the turtles act at lunch. Some, like Princesstard, Nancy Drew and Mariska, talk quietly amongst themselves. Or you know, semi-quiet. However, once they finish eating they start to argue, get loud, mess with their food, roughhouse and flick cake at each other. Just like high school.

Obviously part of it is that they're bored out of their minds sitting there. Do they not find each other interesting enough?

So naturally, the answer is to hit them with Honors Civics and Spanish 2 material.

I really enjoyed picturing their brains fry trying to name the three branches of government and any ridiculously hard questions I could come up with. Hee hee hee.
"Come on guys, you need to know this stuff." Why, you ask?

• It would keep them occupied.  Grandma used to say the idle mind is the devil's workshop.

• They'd like the challenge. They're just crazy enough to go for it. Fourth graders are fearless. They can do anything.

• I'd feel like I'd actually be teaching them something instead of distracting them. Maybe broaden their minds so that they reach for knowing things about the government and conjugating verbs in Spanish.

• I'd make sure that when they got to High School, they'd be ready.

• When my Civics teacher sees that some of her students are beasting at Civics concepts already, they'll say," Oh. That's 'cause Miss Q taught me." Then she'll go, "Oh. Well, of course Miss Q. I mean naturally."

In my world, it'd turn out exactly like that. But even besides those reasons, I think it was because I was getting too comfortable.
Now, I can see from the point of view of some of the older cadets. I'm not as professional yet, but once you get used to a classroom and get familiar, you see just how much more opportunity is there. I can see how they get their drive but still feel the need to be tough on themselves. With so many different things, I start to feel like I'm not even doing 10 % of what I could be doing. Like I'm shooting basketballs turned around backwards with my eyes closed.
It doesn't dishearten me, but with the idea in mind, I felt that much more excited about trying it the next day.

Because in Civics, we were watching a movie, I decided my crazy challenge would come from Spanish 2.

Todos los dias, Zefron le gusta dar Mariska un abrazo enorme.

Now kids, translate that. Yes, I'm crazy.

However, the thing I like about Spanish is that it can be so intuitive. Suppose you've never even taken Spanish. What does the word enorme look like?  Or un. what number in English looks like un? Dias? What could I possibly be talking about?

The Spanish word for arms is brazos. What could an abrazo be?

When I arrive, SkinnyJeanz is the first to call me and come running for a hug. From far off I might have heard Nala shout out Miss Q but I wasn't sure.

About three conversations were going at once. Nala was all abuzz about how our outfits matched (me with my black dress and patterned tights and her with her lacy ruffled black skirt), Idaho was going on about... something (forgive me! I no one else is guilty of failing to cherish all the precious words that come out of their mouths but sometimes I am.) And none of it came out clear because I was looking at Fate and CP.

Fate had become Lucy the trick-doing cat of many languages with CP as her owner. I was real glad Fate could consistently get along with someone.

"Lucy!" CP was pretty darn commanding. "Now, speak frrrench." she said, rolling her r's masterfully.
"Banuladeiuuuu!"
Huh?

Now would be a good time to say: And speaking of languages, lets hop to lunch time, but there's some foreshadowing to do.

Talking to Mariska and Copilot, two of the three redheads in the class, I learned a not-so-surprising fact.

"Mariska likes Zefron!" he announced, all charm with his big smile and military haircut.
"Really? How shocking!" I said, insinuating the opposite.

I mean, what was not to like about Zefron? He's intelligent, outgoing, has warm brown eyes, and a good sense of humor. And hadn't her two bff's, Princesstard and Nancy Drew arranged the whole "forcing"-him-to-say-he-liked-her thing?

"You must be a pretty trusted friend for such a secret right?"

"No." Mariska shrugged. "He'll tell him."
"Yep. He's my friend."
It was part of the guy code.

"He does know already."
"I know. You liked him in second grade too!"

Have you figured out what my Spanish phrase translates to yet? Talk about a coincidence.

CP wasn't the only one about to teach languages.

The Good:

Because some of the awkward turtles were watching Tuck Everlasting, I was in charge of twelve. Sitting with Fruitbat, Nala, Idaho, and Fate, I sprang into action as soon as I saw that first ranch dressing get passed on across the table.

"Alright guys. I am tired of watching you guys pick your noses and throw cake at each other." Don't say stuff like this if you know you have no sense of humor.

Giggles.

"You're mean, Miss Q." remarked Idaho.

"That's right. Whoever can help each other figure out this Spanish phrase gets a sheet of paper from my notebook." I said with lots of brovado.

Somehow they ate this up. Idaho had gotten one earlier for being the first to locate Mrs. Bridington for me (hey she felt like she should get a prize, that's what I came up with). They still would have done it without a prize.

When I read the phrase, I immediately had their attention. I knew I had to give them a lot of clues, but they were quick to catch on. What suprised me was that Nala, usually softspoken and distracted, seemed to catch on the quickest.

"What does the word dias sound like?"

"Dolls?"

"Daffodils?"

"Days." said Nala.

Amidst all the guesses, it was Nala who got that enorme meant huge before I gave a hint about it. She figure the sentence was something like Every day, Zefron likes to something a huge smile.

This fascinates me because I know in order to make the connection, you can relate the word to enormous, which is not something everyone does when learning languages. Like me, with chemistry, some people have to repeat concepts again and again to understand. Nala made the connection before I gave the translation:

Every day, Zefron likes to give Mariska a big hug.

They really caught on with it being Zefron and Mariska. They're a perceptive bunch. Honestly, when I came up with it, it was more to poke fun at Zefron than having to do with Mariska's crush.

Gave Boo a compliment. He smiled. Quiet doesn't seem like a way of hiding for him. It's just his way of experiencing things.

When Nala passed out her late Valentines, Dubby took his lollipop and in his hands, it became an eye wrench. Remember when I said Dubby could stick his toungue out and touch the back of his head? He just seems to have a different way of looking at things.

The Bad:

I hate the smell of  hard boiled eggs. I told them so and they made sure to give me a whiff.

Are The Gage, Freakazoid and Mook not supposed to sit together or what? Why does no one know for sure?

When I took my twelve turtles to the water fountain, Idaho and Nala preferred to lean on the wall by me instead of getting in line.

"Why aren't you listening to me? You tell other people to listen?" I asked Idaho, gently.

They seemed to look at me like 'oh Miss Q, you know you like me too much to really mean for me to get my tail back in line', but they got it eventually. At that point you stop smiling, ignore their conversation, and stick to your guns.

The Gage is interesting. He talks to me just fine but he likes to show that he can do his own thing. During cursive, I watched him flip through the finished papers stacked in the middle.

"I want mine on top!" he said, despite there being no talking. As we walked into art, he and Nala hopped into chairs next to me when everyone else sat on the carpet.

"This is my seat."

And Nala just had to sit in a seat because she was wearing a skirt. The art teacher didn't go for that. When they still didn't move, I volunteered, "I'll sit on the carpet." I like sitting with them. Ladylike, with legs tucked under. Immediately, Nala hops off the seat to sit beside me, imitating my position.

The Gage looked doubtful.

"Wanna sit here? We'll miss you."

I'd hoped that by sitting down, I demonstrated that sitting in the big chair didn't make you All That. Now he was sitting by himself. His eyes seemed to say he was about to come sit but when he got up he got called on to help with art supplies.

He also talked at random, blurting out and earning the class silent lunch. The looks Solomon, Dubby, and Co-pilot flung back at him were so perfectly 'way-to-go', too.

I don't know why The Gage seems to needs do things The Gage Way like that. I usually think if you feel like you need your paper to be on top, it's really because you think yours is on the bottom. Hmm.

Why is The Brit sitting at the front of the class? He and Dexter are usually models of good behavior.

The Ugly:

That day, Miss Q was waiting for Los Compadres to be on their merry way to Anderson so she could play a trick on them. She ended up failing miserably.

Seeing Ms. Odd in her office, I made a secretive shush sign, as I waited for their approach. When I heard footsteps I jumped out from the side but instead of a scared Ar-bear and Stew, there was only a confused Hispanic girl. Mr. German, who just happened to walk by, had a nice laugh on his way around the corner.

What the heck, Miss Q?

The teaching companions were, of course, several paces behind the girl. Too smug, as if to say they were used to and could always easily avoid Miss Q's crazyness. Ay ay ay.

Fate was in one of her moods today. She might have managed to offend everyone.

Miss Q made a blunder and asked Fruitbat how many she had invited to her upcoming sleepover that Saturday, failing to notice how she purposely sat a seat apart from Fate. On my left was Idaho, whom I knew had been invited.

"I'm not allowed to talk about it." said Fruitbat.

"Why?" (Ugh. Shut up!)

She thumbed in Fate's direction. That got her started.

"See? Everyone hates me."

Earlier she told me that my lil buddy from Miss Beautiful and Big L's class had started liking her, but now hated her again. Oh boy.

"Mook even admitted he hates me." Mook looked apologetic.

"We can't help our feelings."

At the same time Nala, tired of Fate's dramatics, started nosing into my notebook, her dark eyes no doubt resting on the scribble reading: she hates me again.

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing."

Evasive action.

Fate while snappish, is very protective of me. I watched her glare at Nala as she tried to peek into my notebook.

"Excuse me? Why are you being so nosy?" her voice took on a nasty tone I didn't like. I didn't think this at the time but where could she have learned that tone from? It didn't seem very childlike.

Nala, usually shrugging affably at Fate's abuse, got angry this time.

"You were were nosy in So-and-so's class!" and back and forth. But Fate was so abrasive with it, I told her to come talk to me.

"How come every time you get angry you feel like you can be nasty to people like its nothing?" I asked.

"Well, I don't know." she said, referring to her anger issues."I was just trying to help."

After explaining that I could handle it and wanted her to worry about being nice, I asked if she could give Nala an apology and she agreed. Just like that.

"I'm sorry!" her look accused Nala from across the table. But she did want to say sorry.

"Do you accept her apology?"

And boys and girls do you know Nala kept staring at me and eating her cheesy broccoli?

"I'm gonna keep on bein' mean since you didn't accept my 'pology!" Fate decided.

"You got a lot more stuff to apologize for!"

This was Nala's explanation to me for not accepting. "I tried to be nice to her but..."

I said a lot of things, but it felt like I was saying nothing. One of you has to be nice first. The point of an apology is is for the other person, not you. Blah blah.

Fate wants to be the bigger person. She likes to say "I'm going to do the smart thing and end it." But the way she says it usually starts everything back up again.

When fate brings drama, there will be drama. As I write this, my mom and I talk, going back to the days when I too had best friends that would be mad at me and make up with me the next day. I was dramatic and had no perspective too. So I can't help but have a little grace when looking at Fate.

What can I teach her though? That she's overdramatic, selfish, and insecure? How is she different from anyone else in that case? She's also nine. In elementary I remember being melodramatic but I never felt so persecuted and defensice towards all my classmates like she is. How did I learn to deal with things differently? Time? Experience? Constant teaching? Grace.

But she listens to me. I see her eyes when she's unsure what to do and something nasty she was about to say gets held back in her mouth. Just like when I saw Freakazoid's eyes looking back at me in Art, watching me to see if I notice how quiet he's being. I made sure to mention some of that when I talked to her.

Freakazoid is a different matter.

"Freakazoid wants to go on a date with you!"

"No I don't!"

Whether he did or not, I just love him. I mess with him sometimes and while he used to act out towards me, he now acts sweet. Almost like the tables have switched.

There you have it.