Sleeping Students / Tales Out of School

Sleeping Students / Tales Out of School

My high school students used to beg for the naps they’d refused in kindergarten. High school students, guys especially, love to sleep in class, and can do so, propped upright, without falling. Male center of gravity must be different, because a few female students and I tried and toppled as we relaxed.

Once we put together an elaborate trick, setting the clock ahead, turning off the lights, and waiting in the hall while a custodian went in to ask a sleeping student, “What are you still doing here? That was a bit mean of us, but fun.

One boy claimed, “I wasn’t sleeping,” to which I replied, “Okay, but since that is the school’s book, not yours, could you please wipe the drool off of it.”

My favorite, though, was smiling as I gazed at a sleeping macho student, then when the whole class was paying attention, quietly saying, “My mother was right. They are all angels when they’re asleep.” Loud laughter and very puzzled awakening.

Sad but true story: I called a mother to discuss her son’s repeatedly falling asleep in class and was told the family had just been diagnosed with carbon monoxide poisoning. Happy ending, they were all going to be fine, and I cancelled his detentions.

Some propose high schools starting later in the morning so the students could get more sleep, which sounds good to me. I know that I have not, not even one time since retiring, awakened with the desire to get to school by 6:55 a.m.

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