Friday, May 8, 2009

Yes, Ms. Tellier, There is a Cricket Season

I am having a difficult time concentrating. I am having a difficult time focusing on the twenty-two little people sitting before me. I am NOT just hearing a noise. I am hearing the most disturbing little sound.

"Can any of you hear that?" I question as my sign language interpreter translates to four of the students for me. [Translating, really!] "DO you hear that?"

"There has to be a stuck cricket somewhere in this classroom."

When crickets get stuck or distressed their cricket-clicks get very loud! Our current reading lesson is temporarily on hold. We move right into a science lesson, "Who can find the Cricket?"

Row one checks the windows.
Row two checks the closet.
Row three checks the lockers.
Row four checks the bookcases.

With all the movement in the classroom, the Cricket becomes very quiet. So, our Cricket hunt is unproductive.

We return to reading. After sailing through two pages, the Cricket sounds reappear. The classroom falls silent. It is never this quiet. We all listen to the Cricket. Where is it hiding?

I step outside onto the portable classroom steps. There are no cricket sounds. I return to the classroom. Yes, there's the Cricket!

I try to get beyond the Cricket's discomfort. We finish our reading lesson and prepare for our math lesson. Everyone is distracted, the poor Cricket is on every one's mind.

The intercom disrupts the classroom's thoughts. "Ms. Tellier, could you please send AJ to the office to pick up his lunch?" "Yes, he is on his way," I reply.

AJ selects a friend to go with him to the office. The two boys walk to the main school building while the class continues working on their one-hundred addition problems.

The silence is quickly noted. "Where did the Cricket go?" "I don't hear anything!"

"Class, please check inside, under and over your desks one more time!"

Nothing.

AJ and friend return to the class and begin to finish their math problems. The Cricket is back. We all hear it. Where is the Cricket?

"AJ and friend, can I see you please? I want to do a little experiment.

AJ appears to be uncomfortable and slips his shoes off. Out jump three crickets. I stare in disbelief. I begin to laugh hysterically. The class is staring at the crickets. The class is now in an uproar.

"AJ, did you feel the crickets in your shoes?" I queried.

"Naw, my shoes just felt a little funny, I thought it was my socks," answered AJ.

And in all seriousness, AJ looked right at me and announced, "Ms. Tellier - it IS Cricket season!"

[I still hear the sound of crickets every spring and it always happily reminds me of the class that graduated from high school in 2008. Congratulations Class!]

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