life lesson 2:

don't spoil the ending.

so, the kids are currently in the middle of a book club cycle.

this basically means that groups of 3 to 5 students are reading the same book. the kids read the book throughout the week and have a page schedule that they're required to keep up with. on Friday, the groups meet to talk about their book.

the most common occurring problem (and the most frustrating one, as far as i can tell), is that some kids insist on reading ahead.

i warned the students at the start of our book clubs that reading ahead would make their Friday meetings more difficult--they'd be tempted to tell the other students what happens next, and they wouldn't be able to participate in discussion as fully.

it just really helps when everyone is on the same page--figuratively AND literally.

anyway, i have groups in a couple different classes that are reading The Outsiders. as you may be aware, i STRONGLY advocate this book's use in middle school classrooms. i've never met a kid who didn't finish the book once starting it. they love the violence, the action, and especially the fact that these kids feel like outsiders--which is a pretty common feeling among middle schoolers.

in one of my 8th grade classes is one such group reading The Outsiders. this group is made up of ALL BOYS, which i was VERY worried about. but i said, "you know what? they all picked the same book. i told them i'd group them according to their book choice, and i'm going to stick with that."

i'm still not sure if this was a good idea.

but it IS highly amusing.

last Friday, we met as scheduled.

i was walking around the room, poking my nose into the other groups' conversations to see how they were faring. i took my eyes off that Outsiders group for ONE minute, and when i looked back, it was like i was seeing a flashback from my dysfunctional family's last Thanksgiving dinner. two of the boys were on the ground under the table, one was curled up in the corner of the room, and the other two were having a heated debate in the midst of it all.

i took a deep breath and made my way over to conquer the chaos.

i'm almost there when i get stopped by the To Kill a Mockingbird group. i'm trying to clear up some confusion when suddenly, one of the two boys who was just under the Outsiders table, Sam, crawls toward me on all four and continues crawling around my feet in counter-clockwise circles. i look up at the rest of the class, which has gone eerily silent. we're ALL trying to figure out what the heck is going on.

i look over at the other Outsiders boys and raise an eyebrow. "okay. what happened?"

Andrew (the other boy under the table) clears it up. he gestures toward the two having the heated discussion. "Chris and John finished the book. and they're talking about the ending. but we're not there yet!"

i looked from Andrew to Chris and John (who had stopped talking and had joined the rest of the class in watching Sam crawl around) and finally looked at Sam once more (he was on his third lap around my feet by this time...) before addressing the class.

"guys, let this be a lesson to us all. you DON'T SPOIL THE BOOK for your friends! look! they BROKE Sam!"

it took a little coaxing to get the group to agree not to spoil any more of the book for anybody. the conversation was put on hold until everyone could catch up, and the crisis was averted. but later, i laughed. a lot.