In my first placement I wrote on occasion of my difficulties with my Year 8 class, try as I might I could never stop them crawling under the tables, shouting abuse at me or on desperate occasions manage to get them to write as much as the title from the board.
Now a veteran of, oh, six months teaching things are going well with the Year 8s at my current school. Or perhaps too well.
There's a group of five or six girls who can't go five minutes without wanting my attention. It's very flattering but isn't really what I'm in school for. I can barely get a moment in the lesson without a hand going up and being faced with endless questions and comment, from the inane to the slightly disconcerting:
'Are you married?'
'Can I have your sweatband?' (It was non-uniform day on Friday)
'Do you have a girlfriend?' (Now, why would you want to know a thing like that? I declined to comment for fear of a follow up question along the lines of 'are you looking for one?')
'How old are you?'
'Are you long-sighted or short-sighted?'
'You have to stay until the end of the year because we love you!'
'What's the answer to question 3?' (Wait, that's a normal sort of question to ask)
'Do you live on your own?'
'Am I special?'
'Do you prefer pink of purple?' (Purple as it happens)
'Which supermarket do you shop in?'
'Do you love me?'(!!!)
Not only that but it's accompanied by lots of giggling and bizarre attempts at getting my attention including turning their blazers inside out, brushing their hair in front of their faces or plain simple yelping like a dog.
The ironic thing is that when I was a year 8, try as I might, I couldn't have gotten any girls to so much as look at me. But now that having teenage girls chasing after me is that last thing I need I have a whole fanclub. Typical.