The Class Clown: Jack Gets Too Silly
The class clown… always so much personality, usually really funny, often a great leader – but how do you get them to not mess around in class? Well, Jack, the main character in “The A team presents: Jack Gets Too Silly”, is the class clown. Whenever Jack feels bored, confused or wants to get his friend’s attention, he acts silly. He doesn’t realize that when he is silly in class, he is distracting his friends from learning, and the teacher starts feeling upset.
Kids are silly in class for a number of reasons:
1. They are “bored” or disengaged from the lesson, and are trying to entertain themselves.
2. They don’t understand the lesson and are trying to cover by being silly, or blowing it off.
3. They want the attention of their peers and act silly to get it.
Jack is silly for all of these reasons, but this book focuses specifically on him learning different ways to get attention from his peers. Future books that are coming out focus on Jack giving up because he doesn’t understand what the lesson is and ways to attack "boredom" in class.
My son especially relates to this book. Jack is his favorite character and he thinks he is hilarious. Which is part of the problem, right? My son would be the first kid to laugh at Jack’s antics in class, which would only reinforce Jack’s behavior! In reality, Jack is based on a number of students that I have had in the past. Often my students struggle to get the right kind of attention and think that being the class clown will make others pay attention to them. What they don’t understand is that kids may be laughing “at” them, instead of “with” them. Or that kids are laughing and pointing because they are uncomfortable. This book helps Jack understand the different kinds of attention, and how to get the kind he really wants.
Additionally, Jack Gets Too Silly focuses on the times when it is appropriate to be silly. I never want to squash my student’s personality or deny their sense of humor. I just want them to recognize when and where they can be silly. I will even allow for a joke time in my class. If I see students get silly, I will often ask them to hold that silliness for a later joke time. Then, I allow them time to turn and talk to a neighbor and tell them their best jokes. This allows my students to see that I recognize the importance of humor, but there is a time and place for it.The good news is, Jack will continue to be silly throughout these book series, just not TOO silly. After all, as parents and educators, we always need humor in our lives!
