"I brought my pencil..."

Yesterday and today I put on my stern face for teaching my high-schoolers and middle-schoolers, respectively. It made me feel a lot better. My natural tendency is to do a lot of smiling, but I have to consciously curb that when I teach so that I don't undermine my own authority. It's harder than one might think.

The interesting thing about frowning rather than smiling is that it gives the room a different kind of energy--more of an intensity than an enthusiasm. The latter can be practically impossible to extract from middle- and high-schoolers, and failing at trying to achieve it through one's own example can be disappointing indeed. An understated intensity is less flashy, but I'm thinking it's more effective--and leaves me feeling less exhausted.

Stern face aside, my favorite moment of the day was when one of my entering fourth-grade boys approached me with a dilemma. He peeked into the folder where he had his books, then scooted back his chair and was directly in front of me before I realized it, head tilted back as he looked up at me earnestly. "My mom accidentally got me a girl pencil," he said seriously.

"Ah!" I replied, and handed him my yellow #2. "Would you like a boy pencil? You can borrow mine." He inspected it briefly, then said, "Thanks. Do you want mine?" I assured him it was okay, and turned around before he could catch me laughing.