The Reason for Rules and the Reason for Mercy

So, the only problem with being a teacher and kind of klutzy ("Bull in a china shop, Chalice," my roommate tells me) is that I'm the reason for some of our classroom rules.

Don't run in the class? That's my bad. My leg healed after two weeks (mostly). It's fine.

Don't throw things in class? Also my bad. The projector is fine. Didn't even get a dent. The dead marker was probably hurt more than the projector ever was.

Sometimes my students will do things like throw something or run across the classroom and I'll have to make them stop, but if I try to do the same thing, my students are quick to remind me that if I run, my leg will break. (It wasn't broken. They just thought it was.) If I throw something, it will definitely hit the projector.

The other day I had a reminder that sometimes when they break the rules, it's not because they meant to. And guess what? It was when I accidentally broke a rule (again).

What happened was that my phone went off while I was doing my read aloud ("A Year Down Yonder"). My students know that calling or texting me while I am teaching is very rude. Some of them even reprimanded my phone for me.

I reached into my back pocket to pull it out to turn the sound down and as I pulled it in front of me, immediately lost hold of my phone. It bounced on my hand as I tried to reestablish my grip and went flying a few feet.

I will not say what it hit. But there were lots of apologies on my part. And a bit of reflection.

My students are 9 and 10. They don't always do things on purpose. And I need to remember that more.