The rantings of a teacher who retired from the classroom but not from education.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Mr. Principal Wastes Class Time
Once again, Mr. Principal is on the loudspeaker non stop. He is reminding the students that there is no more night school so they better pass everything. I don't think there is a 9th or 10th grader anywhere who says "I think I will cut class and do no work now so that when I am a senior I can take 9 classes during the day and then go to school two nights a week. And if I am really lucky, I might be able to go to Saturday school as well." I know that the kids in my classes are turned off by his long, demeaning announcements. I've heard many of them say "Why doesn't he just shut up and let you teach?" If he really cared about their education, he would keep his announcements to a minimum. He would do the Pledge without announcing a guest orator. He would do away with his brain teasers
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5 comments:
You don't understand. All of Joel Klein's principal's have a vision. As for you, just sit back and pretend you're having an aural hallucination.
The volume is scary. When he comes on the PA, Mr. Principal is so loud we all get startled. I guess he studied rock music in the '60's, when Phil Spector produced loud rock with his "Wall of Sound" production techniques. Maybe Mr. Principal is a frustrated musician who just happens to be clueless as to how obnoxious his "vision" is.
I think hallucigens would help me deal better. I'll take your comment as a suggestion as to how to cope. Thanks!
Many a teacher has taught kids to look at the speaker and roll their eyes. Not a great lesson, but at least something gets taught.
Not a PA issue. A few years back I got a lesson in how much behavior we can teach our kids by just modeling. I had learned that when it was time to listen, but one kid continued talking, oblivious to spoken instruction, that I should really stop, look at the chatterbox, and wait. The offender would notice and stop, or get shushed by his classmates.
I was mortified (and secretly delighted) when I saw the kids turn and use this very same technique on an AP and Principal who, while observing me, decided to have a full voice conversation.
So yeah, you can teach them to hate the loudspeaker, which while not sweet revenge, is at least something.
I think the principal has taught the kids to hate the loudspeaker. I can honestly say I had nothing to do with that!
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