Brown loves Orange

I've got a student. Her name is Brown. Her favorite color is orange. Yeah...orange.

Orange. As in that obnoxious color that results from the absolute insanity that is mixing red and yellow. And yet, she loves orange. "Like" would not be a strong enough word for her feelings about the color orange so I really did have to use the word "love," even though I despise the typical over-use of that term in our culture (for example: I "love" my mom and I "love" quesadillas. Why is my affection for another human being labeled the same way as my affection for delicious Tex-Mex cuisine? I digress).

She has orange Chuck Taylor's (shoes) and the entire class had to hear all about them both before and after she got them. In addition to her orange Chucks, she wants a pair of orange TOMS. She has an orange cover on her cell phone but only because she couldn't find a phone that was just outright orange all by itself. She wears orange (almost highlighter orange) finger nail polish. Her watch is orange. Even her favorite snack is orange (Cheez-its).

Now, she has a big problem focusing in class because in addition to her "love" for orange, she also has a "love" for talking...non-stop (like, flight from Atlanta to LAX, non-stop). And, when she sits near her friends in class, you can just forget about her doing any work, because she'll probably be talking about Cheer Co., Cheez-its, or the next thing orange colored item she wants from her orange wish list which also written in orange ink.

So, one day I decided to banish her to the corner of the room and isolate her from all of her classmates so that she could get work done because on this particular day she just could not, would not stop talking to other students.

Me: "That's it Brown. Corner. Right now. Go."

Brown: "But Xanders! I don't wanna go! I hate the corner. I'll do work over here I promise."

Me: "No, you won't. Let's go. Corner. Now."

Brown: "No. I hate it. I'll stop talking I promise."

Me: "No you won't stop talking. I'm pretty sure you can't NOT talk. Sit there. Stop talking. Do work."

Moments later she was back at it again: talking, being a distraction, and letting her mind wander to all things orange...none of which are part of her SOS Bible homework.

Me: "Jessie! All you do is talk, talk, talk. I put you alone in the corner and you're still talking. You'd probably talk to the wall and become friends with it if you could. Oh, hey look...there's an orange chair in the corner. You'll probably talk to the chair and be like, 'Hey, you're orange. Wanna be friends?' Stop talking. Do work."

Needless to say, that is now her permanent seat in my class and she is always doing her work like she should be (well...almost always). And most importantly, in her eyes at least, her chair is always orange.