"Mustapha at the Bat"

Let's talk about D period seventh grade. 

Try getting these kids to all be quiet at the same moment! I spend about 20 out of our 50 minutes together quieting them. But in the remaining 30 minutes, we somehow manage to cover more ground than any other class. I just finished inputting preparation grades, and these kids are statistically an absolute mess. Fifteen out of 22 kids forgot some essential piece of their supplies this week. 

I have never had to strain my voice to be heard as I have done with them. But I have also never seen such unexpected cooperation as I saw today. 

Youssef is the jewel of the class. The dragon and the jewel. He has an extraordinary aptitude for most things, and a lack of self-control that is just as extraordinary. I told him before we began today that we would be reviewing a story from last week. When that started, he was welcome to find an alternative activity: drawing or reading. 

"Here's the book you can read, here's the paper you can use; stay within this area."

I noticed him getting paper occasionally, as I began our review of "Casey at the Bat." They had read it last week, but their comprehension was still low. As I set the scene, I found that we were more than re-telling the story; we were re-reading. So I embraced the moment. I asked for a student to be Casey at the bat. 

"Hold your arms like this," I explained to Mustapha as I held an imaginary bat. Haytham insisted on being the pitcher. Mohamed insisted on being the catcher. Three umpires were suddenly named. We had an outstanding out-fielding complement. The audience, like all of Mudville, was riveted.

The pitcher found a wad of paper that at first I rejected as unnecessary until Youssef the Off-Task brought over a long, rolled paper bat he had been improvising since the beginning of class and handed it to our much-obliged Casey. Youssef somehow anticipated that we would be acting out the whole story. He had made a bat for the occasion. He had also nearly memorized the entire poem, and was able to fill in all the blanks I left. He became my dramatic reading partner. 

Every second I feared this thing turning into a gruesome riot. And every second this nutso seventh grade group surprised me. 

They acted out the entire poem in cooperation, then put away the bat and ball, retired their imaginary gloves, and sat down to answer all the forthcoming questions with perfect comprehension.

Later, maybe Youssef stole someone's phone. And maybe he didn't do that. I cannot say. But I can say that our class today was such fun.