As a busy mom of three, it's not very often that I have time alone without distractions. However, summer mornings offer me this opportunity occasionally. This morning was one of those rare times. As I sat in the quiet of my home, considering the possibilities of the day, a random flashback occurred. Not one of those moments that are cherished. Oh no. Rather it was one of those moments that I'd hoped my recall banks would shred to pieces to make room for other memories worthier of my precious long-term memory.
The shoe disaster.
As a cautionary tale, I share this with you, friend.
During my second year teaching I found my fourth graders could not keep up with their pencils. My classroom was like a black hole for writing utensils. I continually filled up a cup of sharpened pencils for the students who lost theirs, only to have them all gone by noon. My pocketbook was running dry because of the vast amount of pencils I was delving out.
Flipping through a teacher magazine, I saw a suggestion to ease this problem by making kids trade in something they valued and couldn't live without for a pencil. The article even mentioned kids' shoes. In my naivety I thought this was an Ah-ha moment. It should have been an Uh-oh moment.
The next day I told students that they had to trade in a shoe or something of equal importance to them before borrowing a pencil. There were a lot of snickers and giggles. When the first child tried to borrow a pencil and I made her trade in her shoe, looks of shock and sheer disbelief filled my room. Then the giggles erupted. Before I knew it, everyone was trying to lose their pencils so they could take their shoes off.
So, not only did this "solution" absolutely NOT solve my problem, but it caused my classroom to be filled with an odd stinky feet/spoiled milk odor. Yuck!
Then imagine the chaos that erupted a few days into this "solution" experiment when we had a surprise fire drill and our class had to wait for eight children to put their shoe back on before we could exit the building. I'm sure you can imagine the utter chaos of that moment (not to mention the anxiety that spread through me).
Needless to say, that was the last day of the experiment. I've since wondered how I could have ever thought that was going to be a good (safe) idea and solution to my pencil problem. Sheesh.
The moral of this tale: Teachers, before implementing a new tip or idea, consider what could go wrong -- because in the world of public education there is a strong likelihood that things won't be nearly as perfect as you pictured. :)
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