Don't Forget to Laugh

Don’t Forget to Laugh

by Jill Jenkins

                Life is a series of pratfalls and if you can’t laugh at yourself, you will explode.  Allow yourself the luxury of a good laugh.  Schools are all unnatural situations fighting impossible odds.  The tension can get so thick that everyone and everything seems to be coming apart at the seams.  Teachers are asked to perform miracles in over-crowded classes filled with students who are riddled with hormones, who are growing so fast that their butts can’t stay in their plastic, broken chairs while their voices cracks and their shoes that fit in the morning are now pinching their feet.  All of them are secretly pining for some unrequited lover who is a pimply faced adolescent who not only has no idea that they even exist, but is also secretly pining for another unsuspecting adolescent.  From this turmoil, teachers are expected to create a well-organized army of intellectuals who can read three grade-levels above their own grade, compose both argumentative and informational essays at the snap of a finger with correct M.L.A. documentation, and decipher advanced college calculus and do all of this without ruffling any feathers of parents, counselors, administrators or fellow teachers.  Is it any wonder that whining from the staff room can be heard three corridors across the school, but the sane solution is to stop whining and start laughing.

                Laughing will not only reduce teacher stress, it will reduce student stress.  Laugh not only at the everyday occurrences, but (and more importantly) laugh at yourself.  I recall a particularly difficult day when I was teaching theater at West High School.  Play rehearsal was under way for Alice in Wonderland. The auditorium was filled with cardboard barrels that Sweet’s Candy Company had generously donated to make the many mushrooms for our set.  One of these barrels had been placed in front of the stage where I sat to give the students stage directions.  On this day, students were not paying attention and were spending too much time socializing in the wings causing them to miss too many cues. Like a good educators, I called the cast to the front of the auditorium to lecture them on why it was important to focus during rehearsal because of the limited time we had to prepare our play.  Lack of time to properly prepare is an on-going problem in schools.  As I talked, I paced about finally sitting on the edge of the barrel. Unknown to me, the lid was slightly askew and when I sat down, the lid flew across the room and I folded like a taco and fell into the barrel. Needless to say, with my arms and legs poking directly from the top of the barrel and my behind deep inside, I could not free myself.  In fact, I couldn’t move. The room fell silent.  I know secretly they all wanted to laugh, but were afraid.  What could I do, but break into laughter.  There was an audible sigh from the students ant they helped me from my predicament.

                As an educator, don’t be afraid to laugh at yourself or try something outrageous.  When students understand that even teachers make mistakes, laugh and move on,  they will less afraid to move beyond their comfort level and try new things.  It is okay to fail.  That is how people learn.  When you enjoy your job, your students will enjoy theirs.  You will be surprised how a little humor will improve their ability to learn.  By reducing stress, you are teaching students how to effectively deal with stress.  Don’t forget to laugh. 

What Teachers Do Matters, But What Teachers Don't Do Matters More

What Teacher’s Don’t Do Matters Even More

by Jill Jenkins

In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

                What teachers do matters, but what teachers don’t do matters even more.  When my late father was in his early eighties, I asked him to recall the most memorable experience from his school days.  Since he had dropped –out of school in ninth grade, I thought it might be revealing.

                On Sadie Hawkins Day, the students were expected to dress in bib-overalls, but my father couldn’t because his mother could not afford to purchase extra clothing. Although they lived in an affluent neighbor for the late 1930’s, his parents were divorced and his mother had moved into her parents’ home to raise her two sons as a single parent.  His grandparents had money and lived in the old Sweet’s mansion on Ninth East and Ninth South in Salt Lake City, but his mother did not. 

                When my father arrived at school, he saw a group of boys “pantsing” another boy who was also not wearing overalls.  My father tried to silently sidle away, but they spotted him, chased him down and captured him.  He fought back with everything he had.  During the attack, he looked up at the school and saw his teacher peering down through a window watching the victimization, but she made no effort to intervene. My father claimed that the knowledge that his teacher made no effort to stop this event was more painful than the humiliating event itself.

                Students perceive teachers as their protectors. When a young person sees a teacher watching any form of persecution without stopping it, his sense of safety is diminished.  My father escaped his persecutors and ran home.  He did not return to school that day, because he was humiliated.  Within a year, he dropped-out of school.

                If a school wants to decrease absenteeism and lower the drop-out rate, all staff members need to be student advocates. All students need to feel safe.  Schools must carefully select activities to include all students, not just those who come from financially stable homes. Surprisingly, all neighborhoods have students whose families are not financially stable.  Schools need to focus on activities that are inclusive, because there are fewer incidents of bullying when students feel like a community.  By focusing on shared positive experiences and student similarities, students more often care for each other, rather than bully each other.  When differences are emphasized, students often punish and mistreat those who seem outside the norm.  Above all, in schools it is everyone’s responsibility to intervene when a student is being victimized.  Students count on teachers to protect them, advocate for them and teach them.  What teachers don’t do does matter.

My Advice to New Teachers: Be Careful What You Ask For

My Advice to Teachers: Be Careful What You Ask For

By Jill Jenkins

                Be careful what you ask for.  Adults often make the assumption that students think like adults, that they have lofty academic goals.  They don’t.  Kids just want to have fun, even the intellectually gifted.  As an educator you can either use that trait to your advantage or they will use it against you.

                For example, I once received a phone call from my daughter’s principal, Mrs. Puhr when she was in the fifth grade.  On this occasion, Mrs. Puhr had called each student individually into her office on a fact finding mission to ascertain who was responsible for the paint fight that had occurred while a substitute teacher was present.  Mrs. Puhr laughingly said, “Jill, I had to share this with you.”  When asked who was responsible, my daughter, Jeanette, had answered, “The teacher.  She told us to do anything we wanted when we finished our work.  When you’re in fifth grade, you just might want to have a paint fight.” Ironically, she was right.  It is important to give students options, but as an educator you must decide what those options are, because you may not like their choices.

                Never give a student an option that you can’t live with.  When I was in a seventh grade honors program, my class was assigned a first year Spanish teacher, Mr. Panko.  We all loved his enthusiasm, but took advantage of his lack of rules by behaving disruptively: throwing spit wads, talking to each other and generally misbehaving.  Finally out of frustration he said, “Tomorrow anyone who does not care about learning can turn his desks to the back wall and I will only teach those who really want to learn.”  It was an invitation to destruction.  The next day, everyone’s desk was facing the back wall, except Patty. It was a victory for the students.

                Students love to play games.  Use that. You need to establish a starting line-up activity to begin your class every day.  Think about how do we line up for a race and use that kind of procedure to control students’ behavior. Include word tag games and races to teach vocabulary.  Get them out of their seats and moving to help increase the flow of blood from their butts to their brains.  Add fabulous prizes for the winners:  stamps, stickers, rubber ducks, and my fifth grade teachers gave rocks.  It really doesn’t matter what you give them as long as you sell them on the idea that this is one thing they cannot live without.   You need to be the game show host and they students are the contestants.  Everyone will win.  Make your class both memorable and exciting. Never let them forget---you are in charge, so be careful what you ask for, because they would love to be in charge.