Telling my students

Several of my students have suspected that I'm pregnant and it's been more and more difficult to hide. I've been snacking in class constantly, wearing lots of scarves and cardigans, and I've been absent here and there which is (fairly) rare. So, I decided that today was the day I was going to announce and after I did, quite a few of them claimed they had "called it" to their friends! But, they were ALL shocked to hear that I was about 4½ months along and couldn't believe that I hid it so well. Overall, their responses were pretty fantastic ...

1st hour (Spanish 2):
I didn't have a ton of time left at the end of class to announce my pregnancy, but I still wanted them to know today. So, I said a little spiel in Spanish then at the end said, "y yo estoy embarazada" with a big smile on my face. It took a few seconds for it to click and a few students (mostly boys) shouted out, "I don't get it.", "Why are you embarrassed?", "Why doesn't she just say this stuff in English", "Did she just say she's embarrassed?", to which a few of my more astute students replied, "No, she's PREGNANT!" then the bell rang. They were all buzzing about but not nearly as excited as my next two classes were...

2nd hour (French 2):
After assigning and explaining the children's book project we began today, I decided to pass around a few dozen examples from years past. I knew that it would distract them from whatever I was saying so call me crazy, I decided to announce then. It worked beautifully!! I put hangman on the board with the words "Madame Simms est enceinte". I went around the room one at a time having students guess letters and a few guesses in I saw it click for a couple girls in the back of the room. I told them nobody could guess until all the letters had been filled in and they were intense about everyone guessing ASAP! They kept telling people around them to put down the books and focus on guessing letters! I told them not to spill the beans but by the end everyone was just dying to guess the last letter. When the last letter was up, they all yelled and cheered and even gave a round of applause! After the commotion had died down a bit one of my innocent students, Lucas, says quietly, "I still don't know what's going on..." and everyone erupted with laughter. He is such a sweetheart and when someone clued him in his first question was, "Are you going to deliver at Shawnee Mission Medical Center? My mom is a labor and delivery nurse there and has delivered three of my teachers' babies." Adorable!

3rd hour (French 2):
Since second hour worked so well I stuck with the same game plan. Success!!! It played out almost identically except once someone in the back of the room put it together, it spread like wildfire. I told them they couldn't tell but there were whispers all across one side of the room. The other side (and all of my male students) were still in the dark but once the last letter was guessed I asked them to say it in English to avoid another Lucas situation. They were too shy to say though! It was the weirdest thing. They knew what it was, I knew they knew it, but they were so worried they were wrong that nobody wanted to say it out loud. Not even as a group! Anyway, after that was cleared up and it was time to work on their rough drafts, not a single student could focus. They were so worked up and had a million questions and comments! I think part of the problem is that there are more freshmen girls in that class than my others. Anyway, it was heartwarming that I got such a positive response! I was honestly not expecting that sort of reaction from high schoolers. :)

4th hour (Spanish 2):
At the end of the class, I left myself more time than I did in first hour so I decided to give the hangman approach a try. So, I wrote the blanks for "Señora Simms está embarazada" and had them guess one at a time. They all knew right away and were begging to just guess the phrase but I insisted they guess each letter. Bummer because NOBODY knew how to say "z" in Spanish! I was appalled and when it really wasn't fun anymore I wrote "zeta" on the board. They were so excited but it definitely wasn't as fun as second or third hour.

5th hour (Spanish 2):
Although several of my students have been onto me, fifth hour has been the most outright about knowing I'm pregnant. As a matter of fact, when I was absent on Tuesday I left this writing prompt as a time-killer for the sub: ¿Dónde está la Señora Simms hoy? I've done this before and had some very creative responses so I thougth it would be interesting to see what they had to say. WOW, was I surprised! I'm not sure what happened, but all but one student wrote something about how I was pregnant, at the doctor having a sonogram, they want to babysit for me, etc. Adorable! (See pics below) So when I returned Wednesday and called them out on it, they said, "Do you have something to share with us, Señora Simms?" I had some sassy response and denied, denied, denied! I asked if someone shouted out that their idea and everyone else agreed and they all pointed fingers at poor Caroline. Her and Melanie were so sure they were right that they spent the rest of the class period in a slump. They felt so bad that they came in during seminar to apologize and ask if I really was lying! I took them out in the hall and showed them the sonogram and they were over the moon excited!! I made them promise not to tell but realized I needed to tell this class SOON!

I'm genuinely embarrassed (ha) to post this because of the terrible grammar, but I just have to share.

The one student who didn't write about me being pregnant. At first I thought he drew my head upside down but Rob explained that clearly my eye is closed and mouth is open. Hmm. 

Fast forward to today: since it was obvious, I gave another spiel in Spanish about how I was sorry that I lied, explained that I wanted to keep the secret as long as I could but that I wanted to officially let them know that yes, I am pregnant. They were all smiling and excited when 30 seconds later my poor Princesa looked up from her paper and said, "Wait, what just happened?" Oh, the life of a teacher. :)