Yahoo! ran a story today about prom dresses getting out of hand, with administrators bringing rulers to the dance to measure hem lines (BTW- if your prom date looks like any of the ladies in these photos, my compliments). Another great example of instructional leadership from administration...
The article recalls a tale from several years back.
The high school in our district had instructed students that the doors to the actual dance would be closed, with no exceptions, at 7:30. In past years, there had been some problems with students showing up after drinking and the thought was that by requiring students to be inside the dance by the early start time they would head off such behavior.
Due to some construction surrounding the hotel where the dance was being held, the time was actually extended by 15 minutes to allow all the limousines to filter in. Sometime after 8:00, a limo of students pulls up late and are told they are not going to be allowed entrence to the dance & subsequently asked to leave. They refuse. The acting administrator called the superintendent to ask how she would like them proceed.
"Call the police."
The police sent about 15 squads to handle about a dozen unruly teenagers. The students were African-American which now immediately moved the issue from being one of tardiness to one of race.
The next school board meeting was met with massive attendance, and picketing outside complete with placards and rhyming chants. Parents approaching the microphone during open session called for the immediate resignation of the school board president, the superintendent, and the high school principal as well as financial reimbursement for the prom ticket, limousine, tuxedos, and dinner!
I'll give a ton of credit to the board president (an African-American man) who calmly held his ground on how the incident was handled and the original justification for the rule. If I recall correctly, the school refunded the students the cost of the prom tickets but never came close to even considering the other 'demands.'
The whole thing is sad reflection on how insane prom has become. Measuring tape? Police? Picketing? WTF? Schools and administrators have an obligation to maintain a standard of acceptability. Students have an obligation as teenagers to try and find a way around those standards! This doesn't make them criminals! However, when the parents turn the school dance into a political war, or when administrators go looking for conflicts nothing good comes of it.
It's also worth referencing the beginning of Rafe Esquith's wonderful book- Lighting Their Fires. The first part of his book focuses on teaching children the value of being on time. Punctuality is on life support in this country. Tardiness isn't fashionable, an uncontrollable personality quirk, or a cultural allowance. Countless candidates have blown job opportunities over the years in my schools for showing up late without even offering an explanation. Children who are taught (or shown by example) that it's okay to be late are being set up for failure. No one likes to be the first one at the party, but in formal settings time does matter. Those that acknowledge and respect this are in a position of advantage.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Monday, March 26, 2012
Trick For Reaching Hard To Find Parents
I'd like to share a trick a colleague used that I thought was pretty damn clever, and incredibly easy.
I've worked in a number of school districts where reaching parents was a challenge. They switch phones without telling the school (sometimes intentionally...). Their phone got disconnected. They see it's the school calling and don't pick up. Their mailbox is full and you can't leave a message. They've moved. They've gone to jail for 30 days and left their children with a neighbor. I'm sure many of you could add to list. Hell, you could probably create a separate blog on this topic alone!
I tend to empathize with many of the concerns & complaints educators have about their students. That ends when it comes to reaching parents. It's obviously critical they are involved in their child's learning, and I've never met a parent I couldn't reach if I just put in a little extra effort (ok, jail is tough to penetrate...).
Still most of us, myself included, enjoy having a working phone number. Not long after registration in many urban areas, the numbers originally provided are no longer any good. So what to do?
If you can get mom's new number off the student that's great, but they typically won't give it you, and often times they aren't lying when they tell you they don't know it. Further, you're putting the kid in a difficult spot if the parent specifically told them NOT to give you the number.
Jerry was a second year teacher when he came to our school. Throughout the year, whenever the topic of reaching parents came up, Jerry never seemed to have a problem. In fact, Jerry seemed to always easily be able to reach most of the parents that other staff members could never get on the horn. One day I pulled him aside and asked him what his secret was.
During Open House a month or so into the year (and again later in the year), Jerry had come into possession of a 20 pound chocolate bar. He set up a little table in his classroom where as a thank you for coming to Open House, he was going to raffle off this enormous candy bar. Winner need not be present. All he needed was a phone number to reach them at. Like lambs to the slaughter house. Jerry basically tricked his student's parents into updating their contact numbers.
This would be easy enough for any teacher to do, and it doesn't cost much money. It could also be done school wide with a slightly more glamorous prize. I think the small expense is worth it if it helps communicate with students parents. Like teaching, there is no one trick that works for everyone and all situations. Raffling off candy bars (or anything else) won't totally solve parent-phone challenges. It is however hopefully another strategy for the bag of tricks we are always looking to grow.
I've worked in a number of school districts where reaching parents was a challenge. They switch phones without telling the school (sometimes intentionally...). Their phone got disconnected. They see it's the school calling and don't pick up. Their mailbox is full and you can't leave a message. They've moved. They've gone to jail for 30 days and left their children with a neighbor. I'm sure many of you could add to list. Hell, you could probably create a separate blog on this topic alone!
I tend to empathize with many of the concerns & complaints educators have about their students. That ends when it comes to reaching parents. It's obviously critical they are involved in their child's learning, and I've never met a parent I couldn't reach if I just put in a little extra effort (ok, jail is tough to penetrate...).
Still most of us, myself included, enjoy having a working phone number. Not long after registration in many urban areas, the numbers originally provided are no longer any good. So what to do?
If you can get mom's new number off the student that's great, but they typically won't give it you, and often times they aren't lying when they tell you they don't know it. Further, you're putting the kid in a difficult spot if the parent specifically told them NOT to give you the number.
Jerry was a second year teacher when he came to our school. Throughout the year, whenever the topic of reaching parents came up, Jerry never seemed to have a problem. In fact, Jerry seemed to always easily be able to reach most of the parents that other staff members could never get on the horn. One day I pulled him aside and asked him what his secret was.
During Open House a month or so into the year (and again later in the year), Jerry had come into possession of a 20 pound chocolate bar. He set up a little table in his classroom where as a thank you for coming to Open House, he was going to raffle off this enormous candy bar. Winner need not be present. All he needed was a phone number to reach them at. Like lambs to the slaughter house. Jerry basically tricked his student's parents into updating their contact numbers.
This would be easy enough for any teacher to do, and it doesn't cost much money. It could also be done school wide with a slightly more glamorous prize. I think the small expense is worth it if it helps communicate with students parents. Like teaching, there is no one trick that works for everyone and all situations. Raffling off candy bars (or anything else) won't totally solve parent-phone challenges. It is however hopefully another strategy for the bag of tricks we are always looking to grow.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Punishment By Rewards?
I've been fortunate in my life and my career to to have learned from so many wonderful & talented people. For educational purposes, I've worked with and under several administrators who showed confidence and belief in my abilities, and support for my goals. They imparted great advice towards me and just being around them on a day-to-day basis was perhaps the greatest learning opportunity of them all.
Matthew was the worst kind of behavior problem. He'd flat refuse to listen at unpredictable moments and couple it with running around the room or, just leaving the room altogether. In house punishments don't work with these kinds of kids because they refuse to serve the consequence and suspension only rewards them. Even calling mom wasn't much of a threat since she rarely answered. Why would she want to deal with him? Right?
I've also been fortunate (in hind sight...) to spend time with around some of the wrong people. Daily expose to these individuals was equally educational. No person fits this second category like Mrs. Lopez. She was a Grade A dumb ass.
Mrs. Lopez was hired as principal the same time I was hired as assistant principal, but we had never met prior to the start of the school year. She spoke Spanish and the school had a large Hispanic population. Beside that though, I have no idea what her other qualifications were. She had worked in attendance at a huge district but had no building level administrative experience, no people skills, and absolutely no charisma.
She quickly isolated a pretty talented staff by limiting them to one ream of paper a month. This was not done as a cost savings measure, rather so teachers wouldn't apparently do so many worksheets. Even if this was done with creative intentions it quickly backfired when staff evidenced that they could not run off the requited curriculum with the allotment provided. She didn't budge and teachers wound up having to pay out of pocket to get their copies made elsewhere.
My favorite tale though involved a troubled first grader named Matthew.
Matthew was the worst kind of behavior problem. He'd flat refuse to listen at unpredictable moments and couple it with running around the room or, just leaving the room altogether. In house punishments don't work with these kinds of kids because they refuse to serve the consequence and suspension only rewards them. Even calling mom wasn't much of a threat since she rarely answered. Why would she want to deal with him? Right?
One day Matthew got to lunch and was informed that his lunch account had no money in it (but hey, as long as mom had mediocre scotch in her belly and a Marlboro in her lips who needs food right?). The district gave students three exceptions in such instances but after that they received a cheese sandwich and a milk until they could add money to their account.
Well, Matthew did not want a cheese sandwich. I gathered this by inferring from the non-verbal clues he provided, most notably, tossing the sandwich across the cafeteria and giving the lunch lady the finger. Hey, there are fat people in Wisconsin who would kill for that cheese sandwich (sorry, couldn't resist)!
One of the teachers who worked in the lunchroom calmly approached Matthew and told him he needed to go and pick the sandwich up. He of course refused. The teacher pressed a little more, and explained that if he didn't go pick that sandwich up, he wouldn't be going out to recess.
Matthew bolted. He ran out a set of exit doors and tore off down the street. I took off after him. As I was sprinting down a city street in the hot sun while wearing a full suit I remember thinking, "I don't recall this sort of thing in my college textbooks or on Welcome Back Kotter."
Matthew noticed I was following (I'm sure hoping I was) and began cutting through yards. I pulled my walkie-talkie off my hip and radioed Mrs. Lopez asking what she wanted me to do.
"He left the campus by his own choice. Let him go."
That's a real life directive from a tax payer supported administrator. Let an irrational six year old run off on his own. Let him run down busy streets on an iffy neighborhood where he could be hit by a car, mugged, bit by an animal, etc. Despite this being a directive, it was one I could not follow. I chased on, sweating, and hoping that I wouldn't be fired because my Saturn wasn't paid off yet.
Eventually someone dragged his older brother who was a 5th grader in the building outside and he helped up reign his brother in. Mrs. Lopez eventually reached mom who was going to come in. While we waited, Matthew still need to eat. So what did our building leader do? She ordered him a hamburger and fries from a local restaurant! Hell- I should have thrown my lunch across the cafeteria! Perhaps the next time my wife tells me we're going to her parents house for her mother's meatloaf if I tear off down the street on foot when I come back she'll have ordered a pizza?! Anyone else have luck upgrading their meal in this manner? Please share!
Eventually someone dragged his older brother who was a 5th grader in the building outside and he helped up reign his brother in. Mrs. Lopez eventually reached mom who was going to come in. While we waited, Matthew still need to eat. So what did our building leader do? She ordered him a hamburger and fries from a local restaurant! Hell- I should have thrown my lunch across the cafeteria! Perhaps the next time my wife tells me we're going to her parents house for her mother's meatloaf if I tear off down the street on foot when I come back she'll have ordered a pizza?! Anyone else have luck upgrading their meal in this manner? Please share!
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Chew On This One A While
I returned a couple days ago from a long meeting with upper administration. Among topics that consumed solid blocks of time over the roughly six hour meeting: should teachers get pizza or hot dogs for Teacher Appreciation week, should the chorus concert be on one or two nights, and do bilingual teachers need to actually know how to speak Spanish. Oh, and course, I can't forget (sadly) blaming teachers for all the problems the Masters of the Universe can't figure out. Please don't try to do administrative work without advanced schooling and state certification. It's complicated stuff. But I digress.
When returning to school from any lengthy period away, there are always headaches waiting. The other day it was a call from Mrs. Quills, a parent of a first grader. I didn't really know her very well. They were new to the school this year, and she wasn't an active parent.
My secretary explained that Mrs. Quills requested to come in and eat with her son in the lunchroom. This is not something we typically allow parents to do. If a parent wants to eat with their kid, we allow them to do it in a conference room. We've found this cuts down on parents bringing in Happy Meals for their kids while their classmates gnaw on Roast Beef Bubbly.
My secretary explained that we didn't typically allow this, and offered her option B. Mrs. Quills was insistent. When pressed for a underlying concern about the lunchroom, she revealed her son could not eat if other children were talking & chewing at the same time, playing in their food, and 'being gross.' She was outraged that table manners didn't make it into the Common Core Standards and then apparently babbled on about Montessori Schools she knew of.
Now, you literally would have better luck teaching 1st graders that the outer most fork is for salad then you would trying to get them to not talk & chew at the same time. I called Mrs. Q back and she repeated through cigarette drags (and thick phlegmy coughs) the whole tale. Before I'd even got a chance to respond, she launched into how little I cared about kids apparently.
Mom then went into how she can't send him with a lunch because the jelly turns brown by lunch time and kids laugh (Can anyone tell me what jelly turns brown?). This too apparently results in a hunger strike from her son. Mrs. Quills, outraged that I would not change district curriculum to include table manners, demanded that she be allowed to come to school and teach the other first graders how to chew. No amount of explaining that fighting the talking/eating thing with six year olds was a bad battle to fight would back her off
I couldn't actually decide which would be worse: Mrs. Quills calling the Superintendent given that she's obviously insane (hey, I gotta mortgage payment too folks!) or actually allowing her around other children. I kept waiting for Ashton Kutcher to run in and tell me I was being "punk'd." He didn't.
We actually observed her son that day since we hadn't noticed a problem and his teacher said he never complained of hunger. He ate his entire lunch without prompting.
I have an upcoming meeting scheduled with the mom where I'll probably get her to relax (there is some craft to administration...).... otherwise, look for a Part II to this tale...... This issue has taken several hours of my time and isn't resolved yet.... instructional leader my ass....
When returning to school from any lengthy period away, there are always headaches waiting. The other day it was a call from Mrs. Quills, a parent of a first grader. I didn't really know her very well. They were new to the school this year, and she wasn't an active parent.
My secretary explained that Mrs. Quills requested to come in and eat with her son in the lunchroom. This is not something we typically allow parents to do. If a parent wants to eat with their kid, we allow them to do it in a conference room. We've found this cuts down on parents bringing in Happy Meals for their kids while their classmates gnaw on Roast Beef Bubbly.
My secretary explained that we didn't typically allow this, and offered her option B. Mrs. Quills was insistent. When pressed for a underlying concern about the lunchroom, she revealed her son could not eat if other children were talking & chewing at the same time, playing in their food, and 'being gross.' She was outraged that table manners didn't make it into the Common Core Standards and then apparently babbled on about Montessori Schools she knew of.
Now, you literally would have better luck teaching 1st graders that the outer most fork is for salad then you would trying to get them to not talk & chew at the same time. I called Mrs. Q back and she repeated through cigarette drags (and thick phlegmy coughs) the whole tale. Before I'd even got a chance to respond, she launched into how little I cared about kids apparently.
Mom then went into how she can't send him with a lunch because the jelly turns brown by lunch time and kids laugh (Can anyone tell me what jelly turns brown?). This too apparently results in a hunger strike from her son. Mrs. Quills, outraged that I would not change district curriculum to include table manners, demanded that she be allowed to come to school and teach the other first graders how to chew. No amount of explaining that fighting the talking/eating thing with six year olds was a bad battle to fight would back her off
I couldn't actually decide which would be worse: Mrs. Quills calling the Superintendent given that she's obviously insane (hey, I gotta mortgage payment too folks!) or actually allowing her around other children. I kept waiting for Ashton Kutcher to run in and tell me I was being "punk'd." He didn't.
We actually observed her son that day since we hadn't noticed a problem and his teacher said he never complained of hunger. He ate his entire lunch without prompting.
I have an upcoming meeting scheduled with the mom where I'll probably get her to relax (there is some craft to administration...).... otherwise, look for a Part II to this tale...... This issue has taken several hours of my time and isn't resolved yet.... instructional leader my ass....
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
10 Tips For Interviewing
FORWARD- While I certainly hope to entertain and lighten up the industry we work in, I also want to help. Many perspective teachers ask me advice about job interviewing. Please read the true interviewing tale below for a few tips on how to succeed in the interviewing process.
I was interviewing teaching candidates with eight other administrators. One of the candidates showed up about 15 minutes late because she couldn't find her car keys and the next one was about 10 minutes late because she went to the wrong district building. Since I know that there are some pre-service teachers that read this blog- let me start with a little tip- BE ON TIME! I consider tardiness to an interview to be an almost unrecoverable sin. I don't care if your dog puked on the floor as you were leaving, that you caught a train, and/or that MapQuest gave you bad directions. All of those things are legitimate things that happen and the possibility of their occurrence should be accounted for. Tip #2- I would leave considerably early for a job interview and sit in the school parking lot and listen to the radio if you don't run into traffic. Tip #3- if you do sit in the car and listen to music, the students inside the car should not be able to hear your subwoofer.
The second candidate who showed up late was a 'no' before her ass hit the seat. Her English was poor, she was cross-eyed, and she had her socks pulled up to her knees either having just come from the over 65 dinner at Denny's or an adult soccer game. We asked the first question and were then interpreted by the blast of bad calypso music. Tip #4, turn your fucking cell off. Tip #5, if you have to have a ring tone, don't make it calypso music, everyone hates that and thinks your a super douche bag.
The interview pressed on. The fourth time her cell phone went off in the short interview the principal sitting next to me started kicking my foot under the table. The principal on my other side was tallying the number of times the phone had gone off. I'm usually a pretty straight faced guy, but I was starting to lose it. Several other principals were starting to water from the eyes.
I actually thought she was going to turn the phone off after it went off that fourth time, but I then realized she was reading a text message! This is a good time to offer a couple more interviewing tips. Tips # 6,7,&8- don't allow your phone to go off a second, third, or fourth time while in a job interview (hint- these tips work in fields other than the educational world). Tip #9, don't read (or respond, Tip #10) to text messages while in a job interview. You might be thinking, "what if it's my mom wanting to know if I'll be home for supper?" While that's important, I'd still advise against responding during the actual interview.
As tempting as this candidate might have been, none of the principals requested a call back with her. I begged my one buddy to interview her again just to see if she'd do the cell phone routine again, but he declined.
I was interviewing teaching candidates with eight other administrators. One of the candidates showed up about 15 minutes late because she couldn't find her car keys and the next one was about 10 minutes late because she went to the wrong district building. Since I know that there are some pre-service teachers that read this blog- let me start with a little tip- BE ON TIME! I consider tardiness to an interview to be an almost unrecoverable sin. I don't care if your dog puked on the floor as you were leaving, that you caught a train, and/or that MapQuest gave you bad directions. All of those things are legitimate things that happen and the possibility of their occurrence should be accounted for. Tip #2- I would leave considerably early for a job interview and sit in the school parking lot and listen to the radio if you don't run into traffic. Tip #3- if you do sit in the car and listen to music, the students inside the car should not be able to hear your subwoofer.
The second candidate who showed up late was a 'no' before her ass hit the seat. Her English was poor, she was cross-eyed, and she had her socks pulled up to her knees either having just come from the over 65 dinner at Denny's or an adult soccer game. We asked the first question and were then interpreted by the blast of bad calypso music. Tip #4, turn your fucking cell off. Tip #5, if you have to have a ring tone, don't make it calypso music, everyone hates that and thinks your a super douche bag.
The interview pressed on. The fourth time her cell phone went off in the short interview the principal sitting next to me started kicking my foot under the table. The principal on my other side was tallying the number of times the phone had gone off. I'm usually a pretty straight faced guy, but I was starting to lose it. Several other principals were starting to water from the eyes.
I actually thought she was going to turn the phone off after it went off that fourth time, but I then realized she was reading a text message! This is a good time to offer a couple more interviewing tips. Tips # 6,7,&8- don't allow your phone to go off a second, third, or fourth time while in a job interview (hint- these tips work in fields other than the educational world). Tip #9, don't read (or respond, Tip #10) to text messages while in a job interview. You might be thinking, "what if it's my mom wanting to know if I'll be home for supper?" While that's important, I'd still advise against responding during the actual interview.
As tempting as this candidate might have been, none of the principals requested a call back with her. I begged my one buddy to interview her again just to see if she'd do the cell phone routine again, but he declined.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Got It By A Nose
I worked for a principal (Marie) who fought all sorts of battles many of us wish we could but ultimately realize are not worth our time. This consumed hours of time and she rarely left the office, but I suppose she viewed it as her duty in her role. One such instance arose when one of our 8th graders arrived at school on Monday with a nose ring which was a violation of the dress code policy.
In my experience, kids who get nose, tongue, eye brows, etc. pierced, they become almost hysterical at the notion of having to remove them as the piercing process is expensive and the hole would close immediately. This case was no different. "My mom MADE me get my nose pierced." The girl refused, even when faced with possible suspension, to remove the nose ring. So Marie got the mom to come in.
I think we all hold out hope for some logic when the adults are brought into the picture, but it's the same sort of hope reserved for playing lotto- you really want to win, but know almost entirely that you won't.
The mom came in and explained that in her families culture that a nose ring was a sign of becoming a woman. At this point, I can tell you that I would be done with this conversation. I battle over a tiny nose ring isn't a good use of my time and a parent calling the superintendent and accusing me of being culturally insensitive certainly wasn't on my to-do list. But Marie pressed on. "Well, what culture is that exactly?" The mom said they were Native American. "Why don't you have a nose ring?" Mom couldn't really answer this one. "Well what about this weekend marked her becoming a woman?" The parent couldn't answer that one either. She babbled something about 'just knowing' when the time is right.
The mom and daughter eventually left, but Marie wasn't done. She pulled the kid's file and saw they had marked Caucasian on her enrollment. Marie immediately called the parent back and informed her that before she could allow her back in the school she would need to come back in and change ALL paperwork from Caucasian to Native American.
The parent balked a little at this claiming to be both Native American and Caucasian, but Marie explained that for her to allow her daughter into the school in violation of the handbook approved by the Board Of Education her paper work would need to reflect this cultural allowance.
Begrudgingly, the parent returned the next day. Marie had dug up every form she could find to make this parent fill out. Everything, including forms that didn't even address ethnicity, had to be filled out again Marie explained. The parent spent about half the day filling this crap out, but eventually completed it all and the girl was allowed to keep the nose ring. While I didn't in any way believe the parents version, I will share that I am aware of no distractions or disruptions that occurred by allowing the student to keep the nose ring in.
Marie did shit like that all the time. She made doing the wrong thing hard for people even if caused her extra work, stress, and conflict. Her reputation for taking on little things likely prevented it's share of problems. It's not really my style to pursue such trivial issues, but it was certainly entertaining to watch...
In my experience, kids who get nose, tongue, eye brows, etc. pierced, they become almost hysterical at the notion of having to remove them as the piercing process is expensive and the hole would close immediately. This case was no different. "My mom MADE me get my nose pierced." The girl refused, even when faced with possible suspension, to remove the nose ring. So Marie got the mom to come in.
I think we all hold out hope for some logic when the adults are brought into the picture, but it's the same sort of hope reserved for playing lotto- you really want to win, but know almost entirely that you won't.
The mom came in and explained that in her families culture that a nose ring was a sign of becoming a woman. At this point, I can tell you that I would be done with this conversation. I battle over a tiny nose ring isn't a good use of my time and a parent calling the superintendent and accusing me of being culturally insensitive certainly wasn't on my to-do list. But Marie pressed on. "Well, what culture is that exactly?" The mom said they were Native American. "Why don't you have a nose ring?" Mom couldn't really answer this one. "Well what about this weekend marked her becoming a woman?" The parent couldn't answer that one either. She babbled something about 'just knowing' when the time is right.
The mom and daughter eventually left, but Marie wasn't done. She pulled the kid's file and saw they had marked Caucasian on her enrollment. Marie immediately called the parent back and informed her that before she could allow her back in the school she would need to come back in and change ALL paperwork from Caucasian to Native American.
The parent balked a little at this claiming to be both Native American and Caucasian, but Marie explained that for her to allow her daughter into the school in violation of the handbook approved by the Board Of Education her paper work would need to reflect this cultural allowance.
Begrudgingly, the parent returned the next day. Marie had dug up every form she could find to make this parent fill out. Everything, including forms that didn't even address ethnicity, had to be filled out again Marie explained. The parent spent about half the day filling this crap out, but eventually completed it all and the girl was allowed to keep the nose ring. While I didn't in any way believe the parents version, I will share that I am aware of no distractions or disruptions that occurred by allowing the student to keep the nose ring in.
Marie did shit like that all the time. She made doing the wrong thing hard for people even if caused her extra work, stress, and conflict. Her reputation for taking on little things likely prevented it's share of problems. It's not really my style to pursue such trivial issues, but it was certainly entertaining to watch...
Friday, March 16, 2012
License To Sell Hot Dogs
Annually I go around at the beginning of each school year to talk to each classroom. The administrative team fondly refers to this talk as the 'dumb shit' talk. Basically: Don't bring something to school that is going to screw up your life like a knife, a pellet gun, fireworks, or worse. While I have their attention I use the time to hit on other topics like cell phones, iPods, dress expectations, and answer questions.
"If it's Halloween can I bring a toy gun?" - No.
"If I'm doing a project on the Civil War can I bring a bayonet to school?"- No
"Can I draw pictures of people killing each other if I'm on the bus?"- No
"I have a shirt with a lion roaring on it. Can I wear that?"- Yes that's fine.
"I saw a show with lions once."- Yes, that would be interesting.
"What happens if someone brings a knife but no one ever knows it's here?"- Uh, I guess nothing.
"My grandma lives in Florida, and I saw a turtle their once when we went to visit."- Thank you.
'Ooo! Ooo!..... I forgot."
During these talks I bring the hard ass routine about the rules of the school, and quote all sorts of extreme possible outcomes (aka- empty threats for the most part) if they don't follow the rules. "You won't be at this school long if you do__________." I've basically turned into Dick Vernon, the principal from The Breakfast Club.
Following one such speech to our 6th graders who have been around long enough to know it's half routine, the teaching assistant follows me out of the room as I leave. "Um, Sir- your fly is down." Hard ass indeed.
Every time students have started giggling for seemingly no reason in my entire career, I've checked my fly. These kids sat and never made a peep, likely wondering why a grown man is wearing Spider Man boxer shorts (because they're awesome of course). To my defense, the zipper wasn't down- it had broke. It might be time to start declining a few of those birthday cupcakes...
"If it's Halloween can I bring a toy gun?" - No.
"If I'm doing a project on the Civil War can I bring a bayonet to school?"- No
"Can I draw pictures of people killing each other if I'm on the bus?"- No
"I have a shirt with a lion roaring on it. Can I wear that?"- Yes that's fine.
"I saw a show with lions once."- Yes, that would be interesting.
"What happens if someone brings a knife but no one ever knows it's here?"- Uh, I guess nothing.
"My grandma lives in Florida, and I saw a turtle their once when we went to visit."- Thank you.
'Ooo! Ooo!..... I forgot."
During these talks I bring the hard ass routine about the rules of the school, and quote all sorts of extreme possible outcomes (aka- empty threats for the most part) if they don't follow the rules. "You won't be at this school long if you do__________." I've basically turned into Dick Vernon, the principal from The Breakfast Club.
Following one such speech to our 6th graders who have been around long enough to know it's half routine, the teaching assistant follows me out of the room as I leave. "Um, Sir- your fly is down." Hard ass indeed.
Every time students have started giggling for seemingly no reason in my entire career, I've checked my fly. These kids sat and never made a peep, likely wondering why a grown man is wearing Spider Man boxer shorts (because they're awesome of course). To my defense, the zipper wasn't down- it had broke. It might be time to start declining a few of those birthday cupcakes...
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