I.T. to Teacher

A female student of mine arrived at school late, arriving during my class. The tardy slip said she had been pulled over. At the end of class I asked her what happened...

Girl: I got a ticket for running a stop sign!
Me: Well, did you run it?
Girl: I was driving through a neighborhood on the way to school and I got pulled over by a constable!
Me: You say that with such derision.
Girl: Yes! It was a woman cop!
Me: Ah, you can't get out of that one.
Girl: Exactly! My Dad is going to kill me!
Me: A stop sign ticket isn't so bad. Speeding is worse. Others are worse than that.
Girl's Friend: Yeah, like the time you were speeding in a school zone.
Me: Yeah, that's a bad one.
Girl: I was in an unfamiliar neighborhood. I didn't know there was a school zone!
Me: You'd think they'd put up signs or something.
Girl: I know! ... Hey!

What a strange day.

The morning was pretty normal. We had our last day of TAKS testing (yay!) which was over by lunchtime. During lunch the fire alarm starts going off. Normally we just groan and go outside, but today was a little different.

Yesterday, we got an email from the principal cautioning us to be extra careful today for several reasons. Today is Hitler's birthday, the Columbine anniversary, a couple of days after the VT incident, and it's 4/20. The date is significant because teens think it's "Pot Day" due to the mistaken belief that 420 is the Penal Code for Marijuana possession.

Aaaaanyway, some of the teachers were a little freaked out about having to go outside for the fire alarm because that would be the perfect opportunity for someone to mow down a large group of people. Really, they were worried about that just because it's today. Well, since you haven't seen anything on the news about it you know that everything was normal.

At the end of the day, right before the last bell rang, the principal came on the speaker system and made an announcement. She announced that the students did very well during this week of testing, and the teachers had all worked very hard so the students should leave campus as quickly as possible so the teachers can go home at 3. She added that students should not use the central stairwell that goes through the cafeteria because an even was being set up in the cafeteria. I thought this was a very polite way of telling the students, "Get the hell out of here so we can go home!" I commented on this to a fellow teacher who told me there was another reason for the announcement. Apparently, there were rumors that someone was going to shoot up the cafeteria after school. Students and teachers were a bit freaked out about it. Again, nothing happened.

I'm glad this week is over.

Have you ever wondered why large companies like Coke or AT&T produce advertisements for their brand, not even hyping a specific product? I have. After all, everyone has heard of Coke and Nike so why advertise their existence. Well, now I know.

At lunch, our department was talking about difficulties we have had in getting references from past employers when getting a new job. Part of the conversation went like this.

Teacher A: I had trouble getting references from my most recent job because the offices moved right after I left. It was tough because you can't exactly go to the website for GE and get a phone number to call.
Teacher B: What does GE stand for?
Teacher A: Uhhh, General Electric.
(general chuckling)
Teacher B: Oh, I didn't know you worked for an electric company.
(general laughter)
Teacher A: It's GE. (pause for recognition, none comes) They make… everything. Light bulbs, appliances, (still no recognition), aircraft engines…. I worked in the division that makes medical imaging equipment. (still nothing) They make everything.
Teacher C: They bring good things to life!

I regularly play Ultimate Frisbee after school with a group of students.  Last week there were a number of football players I didn't know who showed up.  While we were warming up and picking teams I heard one say, "Hey, who's that kid over there."  This was followed by the response, "Dude, he's a teacher."

This came at an appropriate time.  At lunch that day, our 23 year old Bio teacher was lamenting the fact that she was starting to look old.  Her reason for thinking this was that she doesn't get mistaken for a student anymore.

She's going to love this.