My favorite commentary on discipline in the classroom is a cartoon by Sandra Boynton titled “The little joys of teaching are without number.” The wise owl at the teacher’s desk is looking out, with a resigned Jack Benny-like expression, as students sleep, dance on the desktops and talk to friends in the desks behind them. Touche.

My favorite personal classroom anecdote dates back decades to my first year of teaching. Martin, a frisky ninth-grader, took advantage of my five minutes in the teachers’ lounge between classes to hang 30 chairs from the ceiling, each carefully wedged between the metal frames holding up acoustic ceiling tiles. When I returned from the lounge, I had a decision: go ballistic or burst out laughing. I chose the latter.