Free No Messin' with My Lesson by Nancy Krulik Page A

been entered in the Cherrydale Teacher of the Year Contest. One of the judges is going to come here and watch me teach. I want to make sure that I do my best.”
    “When is the judge coming?” Kevin asked.
    Mrs. Derkman shrugged. “It’s a surprise. I don’t know when he will come or what he will grade me on.”
    The kids all stared at their teacher with amazement. Someone was going to give Mrs. Derkman a grade? Now that was a switch!
    Mrs. Derkman walked over to the board and picked up a piece of chalk. “Now, just forget about the camera. Pretend it’s not there. We have work to do.”

Chapter 2
    Mrs. Derkman may not have wanted anyone to think about the camera, but the kids couldn’t help it. In fact, it was all they could think about.
    “Who can tell me one problem the pioneers faced on their trip out west?” Mrs. Derkman asked the class during social studies. Many hands shot up. “Suzanne?” Mrs. Derkman said.
    Usually, Suzanne would just give her answer from her seat. But not today. Suzanne stood up. She turned her face to the video camera, reached up, and wiped her forehead. Then she clutched her throat like she was in pain.
    “During the summer months, the sun was strong, and sometimes the settlers didn’t have enough water to drink,” she moaned in a pained voice. “People actually died of thirst.” She collapsed on her chair and threw her head back, pretending to faint.
    The class began to laugh. A few kids actually applauded. Suzanne stood up and bowed.
    “Watch out, Suzanne Superstar is ready for her close-up,” Kevin teased.
    “Suzanne, sit down,” Mrs. Derkman said with a sigh. She looked at the class. “That’s true. Both food and water were hard to come by. Now, does anyone else have a thought?”
    Katie had some ideas about what problems the pioneers might have had. But she didn’t raise her hand. She didn’t want to risk giving a wrong answer. If she did, it would be on film forever!
    But George wasn’t afraid to be on camera. He raised his hand high.
    Mrs. Derkman looked around the room to see if anyone else had a hand up. But George was the only one. “George,” Mrs. Derkman said finally.
    Like Suzanne, George stood up and turned toward the camera. He held his pencil in his hand, and pretended it was a microphone. “Speaking of westward travel,” he said. “Do you know why a drama teacher is like the pony express? Because he’s a stage coach!”
    A few kids laughed.
    “Does anyone know who settled in the west before anyone else?” George continued.
    “Who?” Manny asked.
    “The sun!” George exclaimed.
    The kids all laughed. “Tell another one, George,” Kevin shouted.
    George grinned. “Why did the criminal carry glue with him when he traveled out west?”
    “Why?” Kevin shouted out.
    “He wanted to stick up the passengers!”
    Everyone laughed . . . everyone but Mrs. Derkman, that is. “George, this is a classroom, not a comedy club,” she scolded.
    Mrs. Derkman did not look happy. Her face was all scrunched up, her glasses were halfway down her nose, and she’d squeezed her fist so tight that she’d snapped the chalk in half.

    Katie glanced at the video camera in the back of the room. I wonder how Mrs. Derkman will feel when she sees herself looking like that, she thought to herself.
    Mrs. Derkman didn’t turn off her video camera at all during the day. And the more the camera recorded her, the stricter she got. During math time, the kids were all answering multiplication problems in their notebooks. Mrs. Derkman walked around the room, checking their work.
    “Mandy, you know that by third grade all of your work has to be written in cursive,” Mrs. Derkman scolded her.
    Mandy seemed confused. “But this is math,” she told her teacher. “There’s no such thing as a cursive 7.”
    Mrs. Derkman continued walking around the room. She stopped in front of the third row. “Class, what is the rule about eating in this room?”
    Katie looked around. She