Pet Peeves

Testing has taken over my classroom! Not only do I feel like my legs will fall off any moment due to the amount of laps I have walked around the classroom during testing, but my kiddos are ready to explode with energy! As I was mentally to-do listing for four hours I realized the level to which this whole process is annoying. Now that students know everything they are to know for this year, I’m off stage. What am I supposed to do with myself?

This started to peeve me a bit. Thus…. I stumbled upon my next assignment for students:

What is your biggest pet peeve? Why?

Students put the correct heading on their papers and folded their paper in half from top to bottom. I modeled an example on the board:

My pet peeve is when I let someone in ahead of me in traffic and they do not say “thank you.” This bothers me because it is inconsiderate of other people.”

You could see smirks on students’ faces as ideas raced around in their heads. If we did not have to be mute while waiting for the “ALL CLEAR” testing announcement, students would have had a ball discussing this with each other. Nonetheless, students drafted responses.

I then had them switch papers with another student. The second student had to read the original pet peeve and draft a response. The response had to be a solution to eliminate the pet peeve or at least lessen its impact.

I was unprepared for what happened next. I had students turn their papers in to the “Completed Work” bin, not thinking that much time or thought went into the drafting phase due to students’ lack of energy and concentration after testing. However, I happened to glance down at a paper in the bin and it caught my attention. I decided to grab the stack and actually read through each of them (you know the assignments that students complete and turn in that you never get the chance to really thoroughly look through?). I am so glad I did! THEY WERE HILARIOUS!

Not only are students excellent problem solvers, but their pet peeves and responses were creative and humorous. (FYI: some papers show a star rating system from the original author quantifying the effectiveness of the peer’s solution; also, a word of caution… if your pet peeve is spelling do not continue reading! 🙂 I’m sorry we obviously have some work to do!)

Below are some of the papers and my commentary. Enjoy!

This pet peeve is a popular one at my school. To save trees, we no longer use paper towels to dry our hands after using the bathroom. So, instead we had hand dryers installed. It was one of those “good idea at the time” implementations. The reality is its really loud, especially because our bathrooms do not have doors on them. Also, the hand dryer was installed on the wall that backs up to a classroom. So the Smart Board shakes every 30 seconds and the sound makes the teacher have to adjust their volume during instruction in order to maximize time (waiting until the sound stopped before it began again left a minute gap where little to no instruction would be delivered over the course of a day). I particularly like Terrell’s idea of ear plugs. Realistic and effective. Smashing it like the Hulk adds his personality to his solution which shows me his ownership in this feedback process. I appreciate the attempt!

Insects are also my pet peeve. I realize they’re necessary to keep the ecosystem balanced but man they are noisy and blood sucking! The grasshopper might not be the most annoying of insects but this child obviously has had a run in and is ready for a solution. I appreciate his peer’s response by starting with “Matthew.” I picture a parent looking down at a child with a “here’s what you need to do” look. His peer sounds very wise! Not only did they give one solution, but two. I also appreciate the lack of response to the pet peeve of showering. I can only guess the peer felt it was a necessary fact of life and no reason to address the issue. (That’s what I tell myself anyways…oh, the things you learn about your students! No water…check!)

Wow. I think we might have opened a can of worms. This child is obviously sick of being told what to do! I’m thankful there is no reference to me in here!! Joseph is really tapping into our character education by killing with kindness instead of focusing on the degree to which it peeves a person. Manners always help, thanks Joseph!

Evelyn has a great concern in my opinion. This is a daily occurrence in any elementary school. I have no idea why students have to be first to go anywhere. It’s a race to …what? I will never know what the great prize is because one is never awarded. Shoving is uncalled for and I appreciate the peer’s advice of using manners by saying “excuse me.” I would add some advice here: Explain you were in this particular place in line and that if they can explain why they must stand in your spot and its convincing enough, then they may have the spot- a little accountability with the “swoop in” maneuver. This might make things more interesting around here!

I LOVE this solution! Way to go Daniel! Setting boundaries and expressing expectations could eliminate this pet peeve. It sounds like sleeping the day away is not an option. However, a predetermined amount of ‘extra’ sleep on a day off isn’t unreasonable. A schedule is an accountability piece for Haley to live up to and for her mother to abide by. My favorite one by far! 🙂

I included Kokou’s paper in this post because of the description “100% loud.” I love that he quantifies the pet peeve- cracks me up! His peer certainly seems annoyed by this pet peeve as seen in the quick limitless response. Do this, or try this, or even do this… but either way its your problem dude!

I feel for this concern. Trying to get work done with bothersome noise is extremely difficult. Daniel is an avid reader so this is not just merely homework. He. Loves.To.Read.All.Day.Every.Day. This is his sacred time. So I can see how this is not merely annoying but a prioritized pet peeve. Haley has an excellent solution to crack down on the physical interruption. Now, we have to problem-solve the noise factor. Hmm…

Music getting stuck in your head happens to everyone. This is a pet peeve many people can identify with. Brian is certainly funny in his response. He gives the solution of distracting yourself from the song and placing a new song in its place. I’m unsure why the solution of thinking about Matthew was given, but Matthew is quite funny so maybe its another distraction technique?! Then there is the random ” my sister is one” aka “my sister is my pet peeve.” Ryan, the original author, seems to have come to grips with this aspect because he says “shes just being her.” I guess Brian did not feel he needed to address this issue as Ryan has embraced the annoyance and moved forward!

Hmm, a fly that rips your skin off…ouch! I haven’t met that kind yet, but if I do I am sure it will top my Pet Peeve list! God bless Keza and her laundry list of effective solutions: bug spray, fly swatter, frogs and spiders to eat the fly, and even hitting them yourself. Sounds like Terrell has a few options to try. This might not be a pet peeve for long!

Brian seems very perturbed. I am so glad I asked the question because I have learned so much about my students! I do see how a camera’s flash can be annoying, and the fact that we like to get the exact picture with multiple cameras. (I know I am guilty!) This is a legitimate pet peeve that, again, many people can identify with. Thank gosh for Ryan and his idea of just making copies of the original instead of waiting for each camera to get their own chance at the photo opp. Turning the flash off is always encouraged (especially for me because of “red eye!”).

How do you allow students to express their opinions in class?