Block One Zombies

It was an overcast Tuesday morning, and I entered Block One of Theme Writing with my yearly fall cold stuffing up my nose.  We started to go through our review of student writing from yesterday, and what was usually a somewhat chatty first block class had entered the depths of zombie morning sickness.  Glazed eyes, catatonic limbs, and drooling lips started vacantly in my general direction.  As I continued reading aloud and asking for responses, I panicked silently about how this class would finally wake up- was I really that boring?!  As I scanned my brain for other options, I realized that the students were engaged- their bodies, anyway.  Therefore, I shifted gears as planned and kept silently hoping for a sign of life in this dead-pressed room.

I asked the students to write a list of ten abstract details, a term we had been talking about and studying for the past two days.  After a few minutes, I then asked them to make sure their names were on the papers, and to pass the paper to another student.  As if sent from Heaven above, the girl who often takes center stage replied, in her most sincere tone, "Well I wish we would have known we were going to share these- I wrote mine with my left hand to make things interesting."  An eruption of giggles and slowly curving smiles spread across my first block zombies, and their bodies began to resurrect!  I busted out laughing, letting my glee for the moment of cracked boredom run over.  "Ohhhh, student" was all I could say for a few minutes as I shook my head in amusement.  The rest of the class, truly awake now, gibed and teased her for her ways.  I silently thanked the teaching gods for this moment of genius, and continued on with the class in a much more relaxed way.