Tricky Students

I was introduced to a new trick by my students today. It's always amazing to me what they can come up with...

Friday afternoon classes are always difficult, all anyone wants - students and teacher - is to be done and get outside into the sunshine. I probably have the least control over my Friday afternoon class. I just go and teach, hoping they will focus enough to learn something before the bell rings. As soon as that bell rings the kids are out the door, happy to be free for the weekend. So imagine my surprise when I heard the bell but only two of my students made a move to the door. Huh, odd. Maybe I imagined it. It was a little early for the end of class. Sit down, let's move on. Five minutes later I heard a faint bell again. Now I know that wasn't the real bell - there's no denying when it really rings. Come to think of it, one of the other teachers warned me off a trick some of the students were trying...recording the sound of the bell on their cell phone and then playing it back in the hope of getting out of class early. The third time the bell "rang" I was positive of it. My students were trying to trick me! OK, not so surprising, this is what I would call a mischievous class. Enjoyable but always testing the boundaries. Lucky for me I didn't bite the first time they tried it, little do they know that it was only their own lack of movement which made it fail. Just one more reason cell phones and i-pods should be barred from the classroom. The smaller technology gets, the more it seems to disrupt class. I ended the lesson as the real bell rang (much louder then the recorded versions) with a warning to the whole class "The next time I hear it I will take the first phone I see for a week." It'll be interesting to see if they try it again.