Party Like a Rock Star

Jasen, pre-Christmas

Today, Jasen was the happiest I’ve ever seen him in class. This is the kid who refuses to speak to me when I call on him, who won’t write a single word for an essay and who rarely does his homework. Apparently he goes to so many academies that his brain is like soup and he just can’t make it at 6 in the evening. I don’t blame him I guess, but I’m always really, really worried about him because he pulls at his hair and does a lot of things that scream, “ANXIETY OVERLOAD!” Anyways, happy story. Today we had a Christmas party. I told the kids they could bring whatever they want. (Yes, I’m getting a bit smarter, instead of me spending $20, they handle the party!) We were SUPER lucky. Stephanie brought an entire cake (from a bakery- those things are $20, easy). June (a tiny little kid who’s a bit too young for the other 5th graders in the class) snuck in- he had just ordered a PIZZA. He ran out with equal suspicion and returned carrying an enormous box. Roy had bags of candy for everyone (how awesome- I’m a bad teacher and I didn’t make them)- so we were all set! I had found a bunch of costumes in a closet and I threw them everywhere in the class for the kids to wear. There were wigs, masks, and gloves galore. Jasen got really excited when he saw the Santa hat and beard and immediately threw it on.

He was gleeful as soon as he walked in due to the hamster in the cup he had brought. Yep, a cup with sawdust and a tiny grey hamster buried in it. It was a clear plastic cup, with air coming through the straw hole in the lid. When I brought him his piece of pizza, he was beaming from ear to ear, eating cake and playing pretend shooting games with Andrew. They’re never talked- because Jasen is completely antisocial- but today I couldn’t get them to shut up.
Was it the hamster? The cake? The two pieces of pizza? The coke? I don’t know, but seeing him finally happy, after classes and classes of misery and muteness, was enough to make me happy the rest of the day. Thank God for Christmas, and other kids, and hamsters.

The video I’ve attached is from my first class. I convinced them that aliens were coming for about two weeks, and today I went in the room before they got there and threw the desks and chairs all over the place. Apparently Jacob got to school early, and fixed everything I had destroyed. He’s the one wearing the big red glasses and roaring into the camera. I came to class a few minutes before this video was taken and Tom was shouting “ALIENS? WHERE?!? WHY THEY ARE NOT HERE?” etc. Ahhh… Christmas…