Yesterday, as my class was lining up to go home, an older student stopped me in the hallway and said, "You're having a baby!" I said, "What makes you think that?" She quickly pointed to my ginormous belly. I said, "No, it's just ice cream." The girl laughed, obviously knowing I was kidding, and walked away.
Unfortunately, one of my students also overheard the conversation. He said (with a look of shock on his face), "Mrs. Zahrte, why did you just lie to that girl? Your belly isn't ice cream, it's a baby!" I told him that I had just been teasing. A look of horror crossed his face, and told me that because I had not said, "Just kidding!" the girl did not know I was teasing, and in fact, I had just lied to her. He was mortified that a teacher would tell a lie! He then proceeded to give me the same speech about lying that I have given him several times. You know the one... "You will always get into more trouble for telling a lie than being truthful," and, "Friends don't lie to one another," and the ever important, "If you tell a lie no one will ever know when to believe you."
Yikes, it is possible I have scarred this child for life! I quickly told him that I had told her I was teasing with my body language. I'm not sure he believed it, but it was the best I could do at the time! Today I am being very careful to be on my best behavior....
1 comment:
Tee hee! Love it...please keep the joking to a minimum. First graders are very literal. :)
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