Working Title: The Gum Incident

Written By: Ms. Stahl-Van Brackle Problem: A student is chewing gum Solution: He’s told to spit it out or sit on his head

Summary: Ms. Sparks has a problem, Mikey is chewing gum in her class again. In order to get Mikey to spit the gum out Ms. Sparks offers him a choice, to either spit it out or sit on his head. Mikey picks up his chair and puts it on his head so he can keep chewing. Ms. Sparks calls Mikey’s mother to explain why he has detention.

Character Development

Name, Age, Gender	Ms. Sparks, 30, woman	Mikey, 13, boy
Physical Description	Tall, red-headed, large	Small, brown-haired
Personality Traits	Short tempered, has a sense of humor	Likes to fool around
Likes	Children	Chewing Gum
Dislikes	Children who misbehave	Being told what to do
Family/Friends	Married, friendly	Only child, lots of friends

 

Setting Description: Classroom with a desk and chair, whiteboard

Mikey is sitting doing Independent Reading. He is chewing gum like a cow and loudly. Ms. Sparks is at the white board writing a question on the board. “How do student iden….” She stops writing when she hears chewing, she listens and then turns to face the students.

Ms. Sparks: Is someone chewing gum?

Mikey stops chewing, lifts the book up to cover his face.

Ms. Sparks: (watching the class a moment, mutters) I must have been hearing things.

Ms. Sparks turns back to the board and continues writing on the board “How do students identify the main idea?”

Mike chews loudly.

Ms. Sparks spins around, narrowing in on Mike, who is chewing loudly, his face covered by the book. Ms. Sparks slowly pushes the book down.

Ms. Sparks: Spit it out!

Mikey: (said around a wad of gum) Spit what out?

Ms. Sparks: The gum, spit it out now!

Mikey swallows hard.

Mike: (his mouth gum free) I’m not chewing any, see? (He opens his mouth wide for her to inspect… then grins at her)

Ms. Sparks steps away and turns to the board.

Ms. Sparks: Alright, ladies and gentlemen, today we’re going to dig around our stories to figure out what the main idea is of what we’re reading. First, let’s define what the term main idea means.

While she is talking, Mikey pulls out a piece of gum from his pocket and sneaks it into his mouth. Ms. Sparks sees him do it… then he begins to chew. She stops teaching and points a finger at him.

Ms. Sparks: You’re chewing gum!

Mikey sits still, totally busted, and chews.

Ms. Sparks: Spit it out!

Mikey: (pleading) But it’s my last piece.

Ms. Sparks: (getting angry) Well, spit it out now or… or…. Or…. Sit on your head.

Mikey shrugs, stands up as if to spit out the gum, he turns, lifts the chair and put it on his head, checking but far less loudly.

Ms. Sparks: What are you doing?

Mikey: Sitting on my head!

Ms. Sparks whips out her cell phone and snaps of picture of him.

Ms. Sparks: What’s your mom’s e-mail address? She needs to see this so she’ll understand why you have detention today.

Mikey: (shrugs) At least I don’t have to spit out my gum.