Poetry

Damaris decided to write a poem about me.

Mr. Rice

Mr. Rice is a evil man

of darkness a never ending

place of death

who can stop

this creature that

lies on this earth who

can stop him from lying

from his dates a opposite monster

of joy, playful and understanding

no one can stop his

mighty horns that

stand on top ofhis head

help from

this chaos

Shaving reactions

This weekend I finally shaved off a beard I've had a little over two years now. So the entire time I've taught my class I've been bearded. I knew I'd have some weird reactions, but some of them have been downright bizarre.

Savior: "You look like a white dude." (Uuuhhhh . . .I am one.)

Cheyenne: "You look like a manniquin."

Damaris (covering her eyes): "It BURNS, it BURNS!" She later tried to make a beard out of her scarf for me.

Johanny came at me with a marker saying: "It's weird. Let me give you a mustache again."

Brain damage

So a running joke I have is when kids ask to go to the restroom or drink some water, I ask first who their favorite teacher is. They begrudgingly say it's me and I let them go. So today, Damaris, who's always taken great pleasure in messing with me, asks for something and I ask her who her favorite teacher is. She names my teaching partner, so I put her in a fake headlock and she jerks around like I'm doing serious damage. I let her go and she crosses her eyes and stumbles around. "Mr. Rice is my favorite teacher," she blurts, almost drunkenly. "I think you damaged my mind!"

Compliments

Damaris just came up to me and hugged me. She's not usually affectionate . . .in fact takes great glee in giving me hell whenever possible. She then says, "You know what scares me?"

"What?"

"How handsome you are."

Shocked, I thanked her. "That's so sweet!"

"Now can we have a party?"