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Kevin Babbles
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Kevin humorously babbles about his hilarious antics and daily observations. An educator by day and writer at heart, Kevin never fails to find a humorous and sometimes meaningful outlook on his experiences.
Recent Posts Tagged With 'teaching'
This Brilliant Book
Today I'm going through all of my material possessions and throwing out/donating as much as I can muster. I'm a sentimental pack rat, so most of my belongings are random pieces of crap of little to n...
The Museum of [In]tolerance
Prior to yesterday, I had never visited the Museum of Tolerance, though I had heard good things about it. Well, mostly. When Katy was in eighth grade, eir class took a trip to the museum and she enc...
And You Thought Your Life Sucked
I’m digging another student essay out of the vault for your enjoyment. Actually, I can’t guarantee that you’ll laugh, but your jaw just might drop in horror. I still remember when I first grad...
Resurrection
I'm dragging another student essay out of the vault. This one is by a student addressing a prompt which asks for a persuasive letter aiming to convince the principal who to select as a guest speaker ...
One Final Bond
After that last fight in my classroom, I swore that I wouldn’t get sentimental about leaving the teaching profession. It didn’t work out quite as well as I planned. As I mentioned before, for ev...
The End of Enlightenment
While cleaning out my classroom at the end of the yearStudent: Can I have this little flashlight?Me: Sure. Actually, it’s not a flashlight, it’s a book light that you can clip on the pages so you...
How I Accidentally Found Myself Involved in a School-Wide Crime Ring
One of my biggest gripes about teaching was the rampant theft. At the beginning of the year, I was provided with a few basic supplies, but had to purchase the rest myself. I wouldn't mind this fact ...
How to Make a Paper Airplane
Though I'm done with teaching, I still have a whole backlog of anecdotes from my experiences to share. I hope you won't get sick of them.My first essay assignment of the past school year was to write...
Claustrophobic Student
It's my last hour of teaching. I'm being lax in dealing with the kids, probably too lax, but I'm so close to the finish line, I'm not remotely interested in laying down the law. As a consequence, th...
A Big Day: My Birthday and the Last Day of Teaching
Though yesterday was my birthday, I actually celebrated it on Wednesday night because of my overbooked Thursday schedule. Katy, Michael, and I traveled downtown to the newly opened Belgian pub, which...
Reduce, Reuse, Rehash
At the end of the last school year, I bemoaned how my colleagues were antagonistic to my recycling efforts. Their responses were near farcical. Afterwards, I resolved to return to school with a cour...
Fighting Back Sentimentality
My teaching career is concluding at the end of the week. Like anything that has aggravated me for a long period of time (be it a relationship, job, school, situation, etc.), before it's finally over,...
They Both Had a Different Thing
I found this poem while cleaning out some student work I saved from last school year. All mistakes are the poet’s own. “Friends”S.M. (2006) She was intelligiant,He was mentally challanged,They ...
Constipation
While I have problems with many students, one student, Bernie*, is consistantly problematic. I have not had a single class this entire school year in which Bernie hasn't disrupted my lesson multiple t...
School Picture Day
This past week was school picture day. Technically, I'd contend that every day is picture day since all class long I catch students taking photos of themselves making pouty faces with their cellphones...
More Pregnancy Drama
Since I posted about my pregnant students, everyone's been asking me about the situation. On several occasions, friends have asked if I can finagle my way into a godparent position. The answer: not ...
Pregnant Students
I have an overly amorous couple in one of my classes. They are unflaggingly in love like only a high school couple could be. Because of them, I have had to institute new rules about touching and kissi...
I Grade Harshly
Maria*: Mr. [Kevin]! Someone wrote in my folder!Me: What does it say?Maria: Uh…Me: Or do I not want to know?Maria: No. It says "bitch."Me: That’s rude, I’m sorry.Maria: I’m mad. Who did it?...
Bubbles
This upcoming week of school is my favorite of the year: state standardized testing. Forget the politics of it all, I enjoy the shortened teaching periods and rare tranquility on campus. Nothing but...
Do You Have a Boil?
My student who threatened to cut my throat is still in my class. It's funny how laws work: she'd probably have to succeed at killing me before switching classes. She knew enough to be a bit better b...
Oh What a Night
I hold an unpopular opinion that I’ve never felt comfortable sharing: I don’t like Night, the Nobel Prize winning memoir by Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. I hesitate to express this fact, howeve...
More Masculinism
The controversy with Pitzer's unofficial Masculinist Coalition has turned downright ugly.I have to hand it to the club's founder, he's media savvy and, as I expected, using the media to spread his pli...
Fact and Fiction
My students are delivering narrative oral presentations, but I start to suspect a student is fabricating eir account.Me: Can I interrupt you for a second? Is this real?Student: Huh?Me: Did your story...
Norbit
Cuban-American student to Asian-American student: "Shut up, Wong"Mr. [Kevin]: "Stop being offensive!"Cuban-American student: "What did I do?"Mr. [Kevin]: "You called him a name that's not his just bec...
Pledge
An employee in my school district sent an email out to more than a thousand fellow employees. The subject line implored both Democrats and Republicans to read the message inside, though its contents ...
Bad Fiction Contest
Me babbling at brunch: "I’ve always wanted to enter a bad fiction contest. They have those – where you write something so intentionally horrible it’s good. I’ve just never taken the time...
Career Advice
This past weekend, I attended an alumni career event at my old college. To be honest, I didn't want to go. Alas, my friend Kurosh helped to organize the evening, so I felt obligated to attend. As m...
I've Elected to Disenfranchise Them
In an effort to make my students better citizens, I teach them about the the California propositions. They're always quick to complain and point out that it's content that they should be covering in a...
may i feel said he
"may i feel said he"e.e. cummingsmay i feel said he (i'll squeal said she just once said he) it's fun said she (may i touch said he how much said she a lot said he) why not said she (l...
Feminism
Amidst my poetry unit, I decided to push my progressive agenda. Last summer, Jennifer had given me a packet of lesson plans developed by the United Nations. Though most of it was useless to an Engli...