A Joke on the Teacher

My students in Tisovec have come to expect Ms. Large to be a little bit different than their other teachers. I have very high expectations, but I love to be silly with the kids. Most of the time, I tell my students that they are “sassy,” or “out of control” whenever they answer a question correctly, get a good grade or correct each other’s English. They know that these adjectives are high praise. Last week, I taught the kids “fiesty” because two of my students got into a heated, academic debate about a story in the Old Testament. Most of the time, my fiesty students are quite impressive.

Today, I walked into my second class before the bell rang. Immediately, I noticed that the entire class was already in the classroom. They were also snickering. I took note of this but ignored them and continued over to the window to open it for ventilation. Only a minute passed but by this time, my students were giggling. I smiled at them and wrinkled my nose, “Alright. What’s so funny?” I asked. This question got chortles of laughter. I made a face at them and asked them if they had lost their minds. Then I turned around. On the white board one of the kids had written: “Are all the southern belles as fiesty as Miss Large?” I burst out laughing, and told them I was impressed that they knew the phrase “southern belle.” Then, I said, “I am SO erasing this. You guys are out of control.” Sadly, which ever sassy student had written this comment on the board did not use a whiteboard marker. Instead, he or she used a regular marker. The comment did not wipe off no matter how hard I tried to erase it. Seeing this, my students collapsed into hysteria. See, I told you I had sassy students!

By the end of the day most of the school had heard what my second year students did. I have been called a “fiesty southern belle” all day.