Learning Just Isn’t In Their DNA

(This occurs three weeks into my seventh grade biology class. The teacher is tired of disruptive students but can’t do much about them since detention hasn’t worked.)

Teacher: “So the nucleus is where the DNA—”

Disruptive Student: “Nucleus bombs!” *exaggeratedly ducks under his desk.*

Teacher: *takes a long deep breath* “Okay, fine. Everybody switch seats. Those that want to learn, come sit up front. The rest of you, go sit in the back.”

(He spent the rest of the year ignoring the disruptive students in the back unless they got too loud. He focused on teaching the half of the class that wanted to be there, and I learned more in that class than I have in any other biology or life science class before or since.)