The rodeo clowns pick me up when I'm down.

I've got this one kid that I'm uneasy around. Is it because he has a safety pin lodged through his nose? No. Is it because he misses my class every other Tuesday to meet with his PO? No, it isn't that either. It's because he's nervous all the time and that makes me nervous. I can't tell you what it's like to have this kid come up to my desk every single day and talk to me. That sounds terrible, I know. We teachers are supposed to show patience and compassion towards our students, but this guy...

He rocks back and forth and touches everything on my desk. Everything!

Plus, he's got this spasm that accelerates his ticks, which is really scary because, you know, he could be holding my pen cup at the time. The last thing I would see are pens flying through the air like fireworks as I lose an eye by an errant Bic or, heaven forbid, that pair of rusty, five pound scissors.

I think that I have a solution though. I'll build a rodeo clown desk.

You see, when a rider gets thrown, the clowns are there to distract the bull until the rider can get to safety. I'll just set up a little desk on the other side of the room with some pens, papers and whatnot that will occupy him and, whenever he gets to fiddling with stuff, I can scamper out (while the crowd cheers).

At the very least, I'll have an excuse to wear my big belt buckle.