Shame on you!

Today was a great day teaching sixth grade English. To start with, the writing prompt for the bellwork was “The car was speeding” and one student (who shared aloud to the class) ended up writing a basic plot line of the movie Back to the Future. I'm not sure whether to congratulate him or fail him for plagiarism. Either way, it was pretty funny.

Now most kids work on exactly what they are supposed to while having little conversations here and there and the occasional reminder from the teacher to get back on task. I do not mind this at all, but there is another type of student. This student sits there and talks and does not put one word on the assignment he or she is supposed to be working on. It just so happens that I had four of these students in my fifth hour today. When I realized 45 minutes into class that they had neglected to begin the worksheet, I announced to the class,

“For those of you who have nothing written down on your worksheet, shame on you... in fact, shame upon your families and shame upon your children and your children's children!”

One boy was a little shocked to hear that and started screaming “Whoa Whoa Whoa, you can't put shame on me!”

To which I cordially replied, “I'm just proclaiming the shame, you are the ones who brought it upon yourself. Now do your work.”