Seriously, these kids crack me up! The other day I was 10 minutes late for class (it's a whole other Oprah, I was sitting in the teacher's lounge, blissfully unaware that I had to teach that period) and I walked in to find the kids sitting quietly, apparently shocked into submission by my absence. One of them told me that when they are late for something, they get reported or something like that. So I said, let me get you some paper and a pencil. You should definitely report this to somebody. He proceeded to write a two page complaint, listing all my thinking errors and insisting that I take responsibility for my actions. He made me sign at the bottom and write that I was willing to accept feedback from my students about how my tardiness affected them. He used all the lingo the treatment people use with the kids. It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen in my life! For my thinking errors, he wrote something like this:
Selfishness - Ms. Papenfus was late because she wanted to look nice for some criminals who don't care how she looks. (I had told them I was late because I was straightening my hair. I couldn't very well tell them I had completely FORGOTTEN about them)
Uniqueness - Ms. Papenfus thinks it is ok to be late because she should have her hair straight, when nobody else here has that privelege.
He wrote some other stuff that I can't remember. It was so gosh darn funny, I am still laughing 3 days later. The administrators got their hands on it, and after thanking me for taking the time to build a relationship with this student, laughed so hard I think they almost wet their pants.
So, the bottom line is that there is good in this place.
