So yeah...
When I got into school today, I noticed that there were five cop cars outside. Middle schoolers were lined up in two single-file lines by gender, to be frisked and to have their bags searched.
Apparently, someone called the Dedham middle school last night, and threatened to blow it up.
The kids were terrified and/or off-the-walls all day.
One kid asked if he could use first block to write out a will. Another insisted that his classmate should be sent to the office for being "racist against birthday cakes." A third informed me that she was going to be scarred for life because someone drew on her donkey. Still another student inexplicably slid out of her chair and under her desk, hitting her forehead hard enough on the underside to leave a giant red welt, and had to be sent to the nurse.
On a somewhat related note, I have decided to allow note-passing, so long as the kids are quiet. It prevents them from randomly shouting things out without thinking, helps them to distinguish between inner and outer monologue, and keeps the class delightfully quiet.
When I am an English teacher, I will probably encourage it, in fact, and simply ask that the kids turn in the notes at the end of class. Then I can use errors they make as a metric for their collective understanding of grammar.
Apparently, someone called the Dedham middle school last night, and threatened to blow it up.
The kids were terrified and/or off-the-walls all day.
One kid asked if he could use first block to write out a will. Another insisted that his classmate should be sent to the office for being "racist against birthday cakes." A third informed me that she was going to be scarred for life because someone drew on her donkey. Still another student inexplicably slid out of her chair and under her desk, hitting her forehead hard enough on the underside to leave a giant red welt, and had to be sent to the nurse.
On a somewhat related note, I have decided to allow note-passing, so long as the kids are quiet. It prevents them from randomly shouting things out without thinking, helps them to distinguish between inner and outer monologue, and keeps the class delightfully quiet.
When I am an English teacher, I will probably encourage it, in fact, and simply ask that the kids turn in the notes at the end of class. Then I can use errors they make as a metric for their collective understanding of grammar.