Snickers

Sherry and Polly taught fifth grade together for many, many years.  They always had some of the highest test scores in the school not just because they were excellent teachers, but because their students adored them.  The kids adored them for many reasons - they were extremely knowledgeable in their subject areas, used effective teaching methods, loved the kids in return, and were tough as nails.  The latter attribute is paramount for success in the classroom.  A teacher who cannot be conned or manipulated, and who maintains just accountability for all students in their class gains the loyalty of the meeker, well-behaved kids and the respect of the bolder, shall we say, not so well-behaved kids.  The great thing about Sherry and Polly was that they were tough as nails but with loving, kind (if not slightly mischevious) hearts.......

Each year they told the students that they were sisters, which they weren't, and that if a student misbehaved in their "sister's" class, it would break their hearts.  There you go! Ingeneous! First-day- of-school message sent.....think twice before taking on two teachers at once.

One day Polly brought a bag of snack size Snickers bars to use as rewards in her classroom.  After her last class before lunch left the room, she noticed that someone had stolen the bag of candy. She asked around and found out who had taken the candy, but hated to accuse the child based on hearsay.  Knowing that the student would be in Sherry's class after lunch, she went to the teacher's lounge and hatched a plan with her "sister".

After lunch, Sherry started class as usual only to be interrupted by Polly who was visibly upset!  Polly apologized for interrupting, but said she needed to talk to Sherry about an urgent problem. Standing in front of the class and "whispering" in voices loud enough to be heard by everyone, their conversation went like this.....

     "Sherry, I'm so worried! You know that bag of candy I found in my classroom yesterday?"

     "Oh, yeah, the one that you forgot in your filing cabinet over the summer, and it was rotten
       and full of worms?!!"

     "Yeah! I forgot to throw it away and just left it sitting on my desk and somebody stole it!"

     "Oh no, Polly!!!!! Do you think they ate any of it?!!!!"

     "If they did they are going to need to go to the doctor!!! I don't know what's going to happen
       to them!"

     "Well, there's nothing we can do.....let's just hope for the best!"

Sherry kept an eye on the "suspect" and all these years later can have the whole group of OBCs doubled over in laughter describing the look on his face as he obviously grew more and more concerned while the class period dragged on.  When the bell finally rang, he rushed up to ask if he could go to the office and use the phone to call his mom because "he wasn't feeling very well".

 Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater. ~Gail Godwin

                                                                           Love ya'll, Shelli