Sometimes teaching is the best thing ever!

As much as I love writing, I’m fond of teaching as well. This year, my students are proving to be a lot of fun. And they’re sweet! Seriously… I have such a sweet group of kids this year! Here are some stories:

Story #1

Yesterday, I was standing at the podium in my classroom and one of my students (we’ll call her Haha) came over and stood beside me. She said, “I just want you to know that I’ve caught up and am really sad that I need to wait ‘til Thursday to read the next chapter.”

I puzzled over this comment for a second and then I said, with much enthusiasm, “Are you reading my online novella?!”

Haha said, “I am. And it’s really good!” She then proceeded to act as tour guide while she walked one of her friends through my website. It made my day! A student of mine is reading my novel and she not only likes it, but she’s impatient for more chapters!

Story #2

Last week, one of my students in the same period as Haha (for the purpose of this blog, we shall refer to him as Mr. Read Aloud) asked what I was doing over the weekend and I told him I had to finish making a pinata so I could take it to a party on Saturday. Mr. Read Aloud exclaimed, “Wow! You have a busier social life than we do! You’re always up to something!”

It made me laugh and made me feel very popular. Mr. Read Aloud is a fun guy.

Story #3

Among that same group of teens is a girl who I’ll refer to as True-Crime Lover. She and I are friends on Goodreads and she reads ALL of my blog entries. I just learned this today and it made me so happy! I think it’s so cool that my students like me enough to want to read what I’m writing… and hear about the every-day occurrences in my life.

Story #4

Today I was talking to my students about Starvin' Marvin and the adoption of Harvey. When I got to the part of the story where I mentioned needing to take my mom to the doctor and trying hard not to cry the whole way to Hanover, I was able to say, "Side note!" and then look at another teenager in the room (I'm gonna call her Family Friend) and share, "Had Marvin not been eaten that morning, your Uncle Tim was going to feed him every twenty minutes for me. Did you know that? He was down the street installing a garage door for my parents that day."

Family Friend was amused. She's a cool kid.

Story #5

I’ve got a group of sophomores in one of my morning classes that takes such an interest in my Jeep. When it was sick and in need of a new AC compressor, many of them contributed their own diagnoses. It’s gotten to the point that if I walk into the room and begin class with, “Guys! I need to talk to you about something important,” they all assume it has something to do with the Jeep and perk right up.

Story #6

Last but certainly not least… One of my sophomores (I had her last year too) has become my social media agent. I call her Agent B. She’s attempting to secure TikTok followers for me. Even though she’s been doing a pretty solid job, I’ve been threatening to fire her since she hasn’t read my novella. Agent B threw a fit: “No, you can’t fire me! I’m doing good work!” I pointed out to her that a real agent would want to know the material she’s representing.

Agent B came in on Monday and said, “Guess what. I read the first chapter of your book!”

“You did?!” I responded. “What’d you think? Are you going to read more?”

She said very matter-of-factly, “Of course I’m going to read more! I’m not going to start it and not finish it, Ms. Meeson.” And then in typical Agent B fashion, she rolled her eyes. I adore that child!

Those are my stories for the day. I hope you enjoyed them!