There's a student in one of my classes this quarter who has studied with me before. He's a smart, serious kid and I enjoy having him in my classes. However, he is a habitual nose-picker. He has his finger up there for most of the duration of my lecture, and when it isn't up there, it's rolling something around. This is disconcerting, but I try not to let it disturb me too much. I'm fairly certain he doesn't realize he's doing it.
There's another smart and serious student in the class (who is also in one of my other classes) who sits in a different location in the lecture hall. Today, as I droned on about something, I lectured first to the nose-picker (busily at work), and then by chance my lecture focus shifted to this guy. He was obviously very engaged in the lecture, looking at me and the overheads quite seriously, with a pencil rammed up and hanging out of his nose.
Thursday, April 02, 2009
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16 comments:
That last story killed me. dead.
Seriously? That is hilarious! I would have burst out laughing in the middle of lecturing!
On a different note - I think I'd be nervous handling the nose picker's papers. Yuck.
You should totally flash a slide with a picture of someone picking their nose incredibly obviously- put it up just for a flash, don't say anything about it, and just move on.
Geez, and I thought my habitual asthmatic coughing was probably annoying to my professors. I guess I got nothin' on some folks.
Though I wouldn't be surprised if pencil-nose knew exactly what he was doing.
That's harsh. Laughing too hard to type...OK recovering now. There are worst orifices to have a pencil up in class.
Wow, did you know this is a very common sensory issue? And one of the hardest to find a reasonable and discrete way to resolve. With oral issues, you can chew gum, and nobody thinks you're horrible; sensitive skin on your arms or legs? Soft clothing or bare skin is not considered odd or inappropriate. Sensitive nasal passages? Sticking things up your nose, obsessive nose-blowing, excessive sneezing... these things are all considered gross. :P Our OT recommended carrying lots of issues and anti-bacterial wipes, to keep the hands and nose as clean as possible. What else can you do?
So what you are telling me is that only smart people pick their noses? There may be hope for my kids yet!
Becca
Please visit me at http://www.askbecca.com
Can you present the correlation between your classes and students with excessive nasal interaction in graphical format?
Had a kid in class fall asleep this week who then proceeded to suffer from what must have been terrible sleep apnea, based on the grunting, hoglike snuffles that he graced us with before finally jolting himself awake.
I wonder, though... Would I be more disturbed by the snorers or the pickers? I think you win. The sheer awkwardness of being unable to say something just makes the nose picking all the worse.
I am neither a teacher nor a student. But I'm a mom and grandmom and I find your blog very hilarious! I found you recently quite by accident and I am very glad I did. You make me laugh!
Sounds like some of the kids in my daughter's fourth grade class. Maybe you'll see them someday...
I was a strait "A" student in college, very serious and studious, and I THINK that most of my professors liked me.
But I had this one professor that, for some reason, seemed to take a dislike to me from the first day of class. He was such a grump (constantly making random, undeserved, snide jokes at my expense) that I eventually started doing things that I hoped would throw him off, such as coughing whenever he said a certain word, purposely writing my notes (which he checked)in a color that he claimed hurt his head, chomping my gum, and yes, sticking pencils and pens up my nose and then looking at him intently as if nothing was hanging out of my nose.
Looking back now, I can't believe that I behaved like that, especially to someone who was probably just teasing me in what he considered a friendly way (I see that now that I am a little bit less self involved and overly sensitive about EVERYTHING. I mean, I was 17, what did I know???!).
Eeeeeuuuuuwwwww!
On the bright side, you haven't caught anyone masturbating in class. Or have you?
I think you should just announce it to the class. Come on, it would be funny! Why not?
Or maybe they think you spend too much time looking anywhere but at them? Do they stop if you ask them a question? And then start up again?
It might be kind of you to pull Mr Nosepicker aside after class and say something. My wife's employer had a hiring event last year (fewer than normal, but still hiring some). One candidate had a great resume and should have been a shoo-in for a followup interview, but he sat and picked his nose during the opening briefing, and again during the interview itself! They didn't tell him why he ended up getting a "thank you, but you don't meet our current needs" letter but it was because he grossed out everybody who saw him. Your student may not be aware he's doing it but I can't think of many ways to better alienate potential employers, as well as romantic partners, than by doing what he is doing...
There is a one-way mirror problem in the classroom; they know they can see us, but they do not know we can see them. Really! When I explain that I can see everything, or invite one of them up to experience my birds-eye view for themselves, they seem pretty shaken up...
I second Woodrowfan; as the mom of a daughter who can't seem to keep various digits away from facial orifices I would welcome polite attempts to adjust her behavior. Of course she is much younger than your student...
Thank you for that story. I needed a good laugh today.
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