It's lovely to be silly at the right moment

Roger, whom I like to refer to as Captain Ridiculouso, is a slightly rambunctious student with a knack for comic timing. He blurts things out without raising his hand, but I can never discipline him because I am always laughing too hard. You may remember him from the earlier Gorgon incident. For your reading pleasure, I have decided to dedicate today's post entirely to Captain Ridiculouso.

Incident one:
I'm in a silly mood, and somehow I mention kumquats. I think we were talking about favorite foods or something. Roger looks confused and yells out, "Kumquats? Isn't that a tribe of Indians?"
"Uh.. no, Roger. That's a fruit."
"No!" he insists fervently. "I know it's in my notes somewhere!" He rummages through his folder until he finds his Social Studies notes. He quickly reads over his page, and then raises the notes in the air victoriously. "See! I told you! It says right here, 'Indian tribes: The Creeks, The Chickasaw, and the Kumquats!'"
"Roger, that's The Creeks, The Chickasaw, and the Choctaw."
"Oh."

Incident two:
I arranged "marriages" between the students, and they had to hold hands with a member of the opposite sex. Once a group lets go, they are out of the competition. The group that holds hands the longest wins a "wedding cake." (I promise there's an academic reason for this stupid game.) Anyway I paired Roger with Mary, and all day he was alternating between a "Girls-have-cooties-I-want-to-quit" mentality and a maniacal hunger to win. I asked the students to line up for library, and I turned my back to erase the board. I hear crashing and yelping and spin around to see Mary on the floor, and Roger standing, still holding her hand.
"She wasn't moving fast enough," he explained.
He helped her up, and then let go of her hand two minutes later.

Incident three:
In Current Events I always go over terms that might be unfamiliar to the students before we read the news articles. I asked the students what a "subpoena" was.
"If you watch Law and Order, you might have an idea," I said.
"It's a TREE!" yells Roger.
"Thanks for raising your hand, by the way, and no, it's not a tree." I paused for a second. "What does a tree have to do with Law and Order, anyway?"
Roger shrugged, "I was wondering the same thing."

My yellow baby with her Aunt Kelly

Playing: "Where the Green Grass Grows"-Tim McGraw
Reading: Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre. I love me some moody Victorian prose.