Class Clown Or Gifted Student? It's A Matter Of Perspective
Who doesn't love a class clown? That perfectly timed joke about the ancient Greek poet looking nothing like Homer Simpson is fun for everyone. Unless you're the teacher ... trying to teach a lesson about the Odyssey.
As a teacher, the class clown is often your nemesis. I know this from experience: I taught ninth grade last school year.
They derail lessons, steal the spotlight and, to make matters worse, sometimes they're actually funny. It's not easy enforcing class rules when you're laughing.
What if we looked at class clowns differently? What if, instead of seeing them as a nuisance, we saw them as gifted? A little misguided, sure, but still gifted.
That change in perspective can make a huge difference for some students and their teachers.
Lawrence Davis, a senior at Dover High School in Delaware, is the perfect example.
He's the quintessential class clown, overconfident and mischievous. But also genuinely personable. He had me laughing from the moment I met him.
According to him, every teacher loves him. "They enjoy me," he says. "I'm not gonna say I'm the life of the class, but I bring the class to life."
It hasn't always been that way.
"He was incorrigible as a freshman," remembers Leann Ferguson, who taught Lawrence in her world history class. Back then "enjoy" isn't the word she would have used. "He acted out inappropriately all the time," she says. "He had impulse control Class Clown Or Gifted Student? It's A Matter Of Perspective : NPR Ed : NPR:
