Having a good, sharp pencil to use can make or break your day when you are in fourth grade. The beginning of the year is filled with routines and conversations about using various supplies around the room. Here is a taste of the fun-filled conversation we got to have about pencils in my classroom.
“How many of you are distracted by the sound of the pencil sharpener going?”
I ask this because I know that I myself am distracted by the irritating grinding sound of the sharpener. I also notice that kids feel the need to go back and sharpen their pencil approximately every 2 minutes throughout the day. This seems to happen especially during times when they should be hard at work, but also sometimes during activities in which they don’t even need a pencil.
In my room, kids like to gather around the pencil sharpener… it’s like the water cooler of the elementary classroom. Needless to say… this is a problem.
Anyway, approximately 90% of the students raise their hands in response to the above question. So, I proceed to explain that we have cups filled with already sharpened pencils for students to use.
“This cup will always have a sharp pencil for any student who is in need. However, taking a sharp pencil without giving back your un-sharp pencil will mean that there are no pencils for anyone.”
So, all of my students agree to replace their pencils. I think “great, now the pencil situation is under control.” However, my next statement causes much distress. “I am going to ask that we do not use the pencil sharpener at the back of the room any longer. This way, we won’t need to worry about being distracted when we are trying to work.”
“Miss, what if we have a pencil sharpener in our desk?”
“If you have a pencil sharpener in your desk, that is fine, you may use it quietly to sharpen your own pencil. Are there any other questions?”
“What if I have my own pencil sharpener?”
This clearly demonstrates the listening abilities of my students this year. However, I know that it is the beginning of the year, so I proceed to repeat myself, telling them that they may use their own sharpener if they have one. 2 more hands are still up, so I call on the next student, wondering what else they could possibly need to know about using pencils in the classroom.
“What if we have a sharpener in our desk?”
Really? I just answered this two times. So I tell them to ask a friend when we are done, and move on to talking about pencils that are too short and jam the sharpener and pencils that have been sharpened on both sides. The students seem to grasp this concept pretty well. However, before the end of this discussion (which lasts approximately 15 minutes, btw—who knew that you could talk about how to use pencils for such a long period of time) I have 2 more students ask me about using a sharpener that they have in their desk.
Clearly, we need to work on our listening skills.