My husband and I have just been discussing this type of thing. There is a difference between a mean spirited teasing and a friendly teasing. In my family, we are friendly teasers, but in his family teasing was not allowed at all because it can be mean. To me, this sounds harmless. I'd embrace it. I have a weird name and sometimes kids like to make up rhymes. I just go with it. I don't feel like they are doing it to be mean. I guess you just need to decide, is it mean spirited, or is it because they enjoy you? Does Velma have a catch phrase? I'd start saying it whenever they do that. They might just be trying to connect with you.
"Jinkies. My voice is odd. That solves that Scooby Doo mystery." Said calmly but with the understanding that you get the joke and are quite in on it. When I was subbing, my usual ribbing from students was my height. "Wow, I'm short? Thanks."
All of the ideas here would probably work well, depending on your style and the situation. As far as my personal response to this type of thing, and with the caveat that I usually work with secondary students, I use a somewhat bored-sounding, "Don't be rude," followed by hammering them about (why they don't have their work out/what they got for #2/etc., depending on what's going on in class at the moment.)
Unfortunately, many students do think they have a perfect right to be rude to subs. I know this because often I get asked, "Wait, are you a real teacher or just a sub?", which seems to be almost immediately followed by an attitude adjustment after I explain that I'm licensed, but subbing while job searching. (It boggles their minds that this is even possible, but that's another thread!) The disdainful attitude seems to be a long-standing cultural trait and probably will never be rooted out totally, but that's no reason to let it slide in individual cases. Other kids genuinely don't mean any harm, but they obviously don't understand that you can't "joke" with a stranger the same way you can with someone with whom you have an established relationship. It's important to calmly point this out; after all, if they don't understand (and apply!) this basic social skill, they're going to get themselves into a lot of uncomfortable situations in life.
i teach 7th and some of my kids have tried this. i agree with other pp where you state "that's rude" and then move on. I have also said, "i would hope by 7th grade we could eliminate the childish behavior and act like we are heading into mature teenage years" that usually gets the kid to stop. (i actually have had a kid come up and apologize) sometimes they dont even realize that that behavior is rude and "childish"
I don't have a ton of advice, but I know the importance of not giving a response to the class clown when they are in front of their audience. The mocker wants to engage you in a battle of wits with a jury of their peers. This is a battle you can't win, since it will be 25 against 1. It's better to show no emotion and wait till later, like once you have all the students working on an assignment, and then to privately talk to the student in the hall, and let them know they can apologize and show you respect for the rest of the hour or they can head on down to the office while you call and let the office know why you are sending the student down there. Also, if more than one person is mocking you, just go after the ring leader or first offender. The rest will quickly fall in line when they find out that there will be consequences. Once you have had a bit of success in using this method, you will start putting off an aura and the students will sense that they can't mess with you. This has been my experience.
While my voice is normal (although one student told me I yell like a man. I said Thank You!) I have a difficult last name that starts with a P. Students would start by calling me Mrs. P. Within about 15-30 minutes, someone would realize how it sounded and start calling me Mrs. PeePee. At first I told them to stop and that it was rude, but they weren't impressed. So I told them I wouldn't acknowledge students or answer questions from students who called me by a disrespectful name. When it suddenly meant they wouldn't get attention at all, it went back to Mrs. P or a reasonable attempt at my name. I have since made up an easier name to cut down on that even more (Mrs. Poppy)
That's a good idea Mrs. Poppy! My name sounds like something in nature. I don't want to say what. Just wonder about it.... Anyways, I am artistic, so I always draw a picture on the board next to my name, and students never forget my name after that. The visual representation really helps.
All of the ideas here would probably work well, depending on your style and the situation. As far as my personal response to this type of thing, and with the caveat that I usually work with secondary students, I use a somewhat bored-sounding, "Don't be rude," followed by hammering them about (why they don't have their work out/what they got for #2/etc., depending on what's going on in class at the moment.)
Unfortunately, many students do think they have a perfect right to be rude to subs. I know this because often I get asked, "Wait, are you a real teacher or just a sub?", which seems to be almost immediately followed by an attitude adjustment after I explain that I'm licensed, but subbing while job searching. (It boggles their minds that this is even possible, but that's another thread!) The disdainful attitude seems to be a long-standing cultural trait and probably will never be rooted out totally, but that's no reason to let it slide in individual cases. Other kids genuinely don't mean any harm, but they obviously don't understand that you can't "joke" with a stranger the same way you can with someone with whom you have an established relationship. It's important to calmly point this out; after all, if they don't understand (and apply!) this basic social skill, they're going to get themselves into a lot of uncomfortable situations in life.
Can you please move to California and sub for my classes while you are job-hunting?!!
My maiden name was pretty bad (was always made fun of it in school). Then I got married and that name means something naughty (apparenlty, I didn't know). So, I go by Mrs. N. But then three other coworkers copied me so we now have a Mrs. D, Mrs. M, and another Mrs. D. Poor kids.
I had it pretty bad today at a continuation school. I was a b---h, a c--t, stupid, worthless, not a real teacher etc. The worse part is another aide--an ADULT aide was in the room and would not back me up or tell them to stop. Students were openly texting and cheating during a quiz and when I walked over, put my hand on the desk of the ring leader and told him he needed to stop texting or I'd be taking his phone to the office for him to claim at the end of the day I got this: "you aren't taking my phone you f--king stupid b---h. If I don't listen to my real teacher what the f--k makes you think I'm going to listen to you?"
