Snap Judgements

Although I'm pretty level-headed and logical, there are times at school when I just act out of pure frustration or emotion. For some reason, students find it entertaining to just wander into my classroom while on their way someplace else ... And I all-too-enthusiastically shoo them away.

The other day, while sitting at my desk during study hall, one of my usual hall wanderers came into the room and made quite a scene. He high-fived a student in the room, shouted out greetings to all who could hear, generally strutted like a peacock trying to impress a mate. I was just about to tell him to "move along" when he walked farther into the room, approaching my desk. While looking everyplace else but at me, he mumbled, in a much quieter voice than I have ever heard him use: "Miss? Can you help me with that science assignment from the other day?"

Shocked that he wasn't just entering my room for no reason other than to cause a commotion, I picked my jaw up from off of the floor and quickly agreed to help him out before he was off to locate the tricky paper.

Looking back at this particular situation, I'm so glad that I did not act on my initial inclinations. Thankfully, I didn't shout out something along the lines of: "Jason! Get to class or I'm writing you up for disrupting my study hall!" Not only would this have escalated an otherwise harmless situation, it would have made me feel like a complete idiot for missing one of the most worthwhile opportunities that my job provides ... Working one on one with a student and actually getting somewhere.

On the flip side, during a different study hall, I had a student tell me that he didn't like me when he first came into my classroom: "I thought that you were really serious and smart ... That you would think I was stupid if I didn't understand something," he commented honestly.

"But I'm not like that," I shrugged.

"No! You're not that way at all ... You're very patient and helpful. I guess it's like that saying you shouldn't judge a book by its cover."

You know, there is something to be said for letting a situation (or a working relationship) unfold before arriving at a definitive conclusion. Sometimes we need a little time to see the truth of the moment shine through.

I'm a scientist at heart. I should have that down by now.