Pass It On

Teaching high school can be pretty hilarious if you take a step back and just observe. One of the things that is pretty comical is how much stuff the kids get away with. It always surprises me because I was never bold enough to try many things in high school.

One of my favorite examples of kids getting away with things is the univeral use of a school pass. Let me explain. At our school, the pass is a light purple color. They are supposed to be pretty detailed so that security or another teacher can tell if the student is where they are supposed to be or not. But, like me, many teachers don't actually take the time to read passes of kids they don't know. So what happens is something like this.... I am walking back from the copy room and a group of kids is doing something suspicious. When I give them "the eye", one kid pulls out a purple colored piece of paper and waves it at me- and I pretend that someone has actually given them permission to be doing that ridiculous thing. But, the pass could theoretically (and most likely) could be a month old pass to the library. The two most recent examples actually made me laugh out loud as they waved their pass at me.

One was a group of four kids who snuck off campus last week to get lunch at the gas station across the street. I was already inside when they walked in. When they saw me, they stiffened, but the most brazen in the group waved a pass as if it were perfectly natural and not something they could be suspended for. I chuckled and nodded back as they headed for the soda and hot dog machines.

The second happened just an hour ago. There are three buildings on campus that are three stories tall. I was on the third floor of one of the buildings and as I came around the corner, there were four students CLIMBING ONTO THE ROOF OF THE BUILDING on one of those maintainance ladders. They all looked super guilty when they saw me (much less professional than the gas station girls) but one bravely waved that pass. I should have read it just for fun. Or checked with whatever teacher wrote it to see if their assignment actually involved four students climbing onto the roof of a three story building. But again, I gave my "approval nod" and walked on.

You might be wondering why I just walk away when these things are happening. I'm kind of wondering that too. :) Actually, one of the first things you learned as a teacher is to choose your battles. If you were to take on every cause, every kid, every broken rule.... life would be miserable. So I try to use my energy on things I deem extremely dangerous or harmful: weapons, drugs, fights, bullying.... Also, in a school of 2,000 kids, tracking down those kids is near impossible because when you ask for their name, they always mysteriously forget it. Of course, I guess I could just look at their pass! :)