Random Thoughts

1. Alabama Word of the Day:
"They better get theirselves warmed up."
Todd truly heard one of his teachers say that today.


2. Yesterday I took my seventeen kindergarteners to the bathroom after lunch. There was a wild ruckus in the boys' room. I heard them shouting and saying it smelled really bad in there. One of the boys was descriptive enough to say that it smelled like crap. The boys came out, one and two at a time, excitedly telling me, "It smells like crap in there!" It was kind of funny that they all wanted to tell me.

But then there was Stuart*. Apparently he's never heard the word "crap" before. His sweet little mind made a connection with the closest thing he knew about. He came out of the bathroom holding his nose, and told me, "It smells like a dead crab in there!" I laughed so loud!


3. These kids have a one-hour nap every day at school. During naptime, I've been pulling kids one at a time to come make a snowman craft for Christmas. After nap, they were all talking about their snowmen and were really excited about them. Brittany* was asleep the whole time and hadn't made one, hadn't even seen one. I guess she was really confused about the whole snowman thing. Anyway, she asked me,

"Why is the snow trying to mess with us?"

Where do they come up with these things? She sounded ready to get into a gangsta fight or something. Seriously. . .

*Names have been changed.

Unbelievable

I am feeling so agitated right now.

I'm long-term substitute teaching a Kindergarten class until Christmas. This was my first week. Until today, my biggest challenge was that the kids are not trained to behave the way I teach my own classes. I've been instituting new rules and procedures each day, and things have been getting better and better.

But today something happened that just completely rocked my world.

All the kindergarten classes were coming down the hall, returning from recess. One of my students (we'll call him John) was running down the hall. Another teacher asked him to stop and go back to the end of the hall and walk to class. John froze, but did not turn around. The teacher asked him three times to go back and walk, but still he did not move. (He's stubborn, this one.) Then, the teacher came over to him and said she was going to have to walk with him since he wouldn't do it on his own. Then John rolled his eyes at her and started yelling that he didn't want to go. (Temper as well.) Finally, the teacher went to the office to get the Vice Principal. John ran into the classroom and hid behind the door.

A moment later, the teacher and the Vice Principal returned. They went into the classroom and shut the door. I was in the hall, trying to keep the other 16 five-year-olds in line and hold them at bay (this was Bathroom Time in the schedule, and some of them work like clockwork!)

I was fine with all of this until the classroom door opened and the adults walked out. I was shocked to see a two-foot long paddle stick in the Vice Principal's hand. I turned to one of the other kindergarten teachers who was also in the hall and asked, "Did I really see a STICK in his hand?!" Yep. She told me that when kids get sent to the principal's office, they get paddled.

Spanked.

Hit.

With a stick.

By a strong, adult male.

Alabama is one of 23 states in America where Corporal Punishment at school is legal.

I am horrified. I had no idea Corporal Punishment was still legal ANYWHERE in America.

I was spanked as a child, and I learned NOTHING good from it. I have memories of looking at my bum in the mirror afterward and checking to see how red the hand mark was. Spanking did not teach me to make good choices. It taught me to fear my dad.

I cannot believe this is happening in the schools of America.

I am NEVER going to send an Alabama student to the principal's office, no matter what they do. There is NOTHING that a five-year-old child will do that will merit being hit with a stick by an adult.


For more information on Corporal Punishment in schools, check out these links:

Teaching Violence Through Violence

Mom for ban on corporal punishment in schools