It finally happened...
Remember how I needed cereal? Well, Robbie and I made a run to our local grocery store (which, technically, isn't "local" at all) and while I was waiting in line for Robbie to pay the cereal bill I hear this little voice beside me, "Hi Mrs. Knight!" I look down (see, this is why I like to teach the younger children...I am actually quite tall in comparison) to see a beaming face locking eyes with me in total recognition. I smiled brightly back and said, "Well, hello.....there!"
Crap. I could not recall this child's name. Was she in second or third grade, this one? Panic sets in, there's her mother, what if she wants to talk to me?! No! This can not be happening!
I asked about school and how her long, snowy break was. She told me it was fine and that they had indeed finally been allowed to go back to school that very day. I told her this was a good thing and her Mother smiled politely. I reminded her Art was on Monday and that I expected to see her there. Crisis averted.
I told Robbie as we climbed into his truck that I had been waiting for the first time I would run into one of my students in the outside world. I had heard stories of this very thing happening and how oftentimes younger students are completely flabbergasted to find out that you not only go to the grocery store, you also eat Honey Nut Cheerios! What I had not heard about was how to flub your way through one of these chance encounters when the name you so desperately want to recall doesn't come to you at all. I suppose I managed well enough. She is a very good student and has quiet and sometimes shy tendencies. It makes sense that I wouldn't remember her name. Now, I can think of a few students I would easily know, only because in any given Monday I say their names a thousand times..."Tommy, can you be o.k. and not eat the glue?" "Tommy, can you do what I am asking you to do without rolling your eyes?" "Tommy, do you have oatmeal for brains?"
So, it did...it finally happened. I am Mrs. Knight, even in a grocery store.
Crap. I could not recall this child's name. Was she in second or third grade, this one? Panic sets in, there's her mother, what if she wants to talk to me?! No! This can not be happening!
I asked about school and how her long, snowy break was. She told me it was fine and that they had indeed finally been allowed to go back to school that very day. I told her this was a good thing and her Mother smiled politely. I reminded her Art was on Monday and that I expected to see her there. Crisis averted.
I told Robbie as we climbed into his truck that I had been waiting for the first time I would run into one of my students in the outside world. I had heard stories of this very thing happening and how oftentimes younger students are completely flabbergasted to find out that you not only go to the grocery store, you also eat Honey Nut Cheerios! What I had not heard about was how to flub your way through one of these chance encounters when the name you so desperately want to recall doesn't come to you at all. I suppose I managed well enough. She is a very good student and has quiet and sometimes shy tendencies. It makes sense that I wouldn't remember her name. Now, I can think of a few students I would easily know, only because in any given Monday I say their names a thousand times..."Tommy, can you be o.k. and not eat the glue?" "Tommy, can you do what I am asking you to do without rolling your eyes?" "Tommy, do you have oatmeal for brains?"
So, it did...it finally happened. I am Mrs. Knight, even in a grocery store.
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