Day 111 - Tough

I think this is mostly because of my 6th graders that I had to do this. They're learning area, and they're not doing particularly well. They're a really bright class, but they're struggling! Reason? They're so unfocused! They're trying to distract me by asking questions that catch me off guard, thinking they'll get out of work. I had to seriously lay down the law with them today and tell them that wasting time on silly questions only hurts them, because then they won't have as much time to do examples, work in class and have a chance to understand the material. So I made this note before school and watched it constantly throughout the day. A few of my 8th graders teased me about it ('Why do you have to be tough?' 'Are you going to yell at someone?'), but the message got across to all my classes. No distractions = learning. Whoda thunk it?