Thursday. Tenth grade English, honors. Second period.
They were reading Frankenstein (chapter four). I was writing this week's blog posts. (There's not a lot for me to do when the kiddos are reading quietly.) An office aide walked in and handed me a half sheet of paper.
I scanned it. A student was being invited to lunch with the district superintendent later that day. I checked the seating chart, found the girl (Abby), and handed the paper to her.
A couple students oohed. "It's not a punishment," I informed them. Then Abby told all. Mostly because she wasn't sure what that thing was.
I explained who the superintendent was ("She's the principal's boss"), and another student noted that they know her son (he's a student at the school).
(At that school especially I find myself running into the kids of various staff members all the time. It's generally obvious by their last names. In fact, in that very class one of the other students is the daughter of the principal of the continuation high school.)
But Abby's main concern (besides why they picked her) was that she already had lunch plans. She had a club meeting, and since she'd just joined the board of the club, she kinda had to be there.
A debate ensued. She bounced questions off of her classmates.
That was when she realized she had volunteered for this lunch. There was an email or something that she responded to (that her classmates had not).
What did she do? I never did find out. Maybe one day I'll run into her again and she'll tell me. (Probably not, though.)
She sounds like a go-getter. Good for her.
ReplyDeleteI bet she ditched the Superintendent because she had already made plans as a volunteer. Regardless..good for her
ReplyDeleteShe didn't sound convinced that going would be a good idea.
DeleteMaybe she will share and maybe she will have forgotten. HAHA...how many schools do you bounce between when subbing?
ReplyDeleteA few...
Deletewow, that girl is a go-getter.
ReplyDeleteHonors classes are filled with involved kiddos.
DeleteNice! I wish her well.
DeleteAs dilemmas go, not a bad one to have (having to choose between two positive things). But I'm thinking you don't want to blow off the superintendent!
ReplyDeleteLunch with the superintendent? Sounds like a punishment to me. Although less so than having to read Frankenstein.
ReplyDeleteI'm with J.E., that would have seemed to be a punishment to me as well!
ReplyDeleteIf there was an email that went out, then it was a choice to respond. The superintendent was making the rounds of the schools as I found out later.
DeleteHopefully she didn't duck out on the lunch - things might not go so well for her otherwise. Like ditching your boss's boss for lunch.
ReplyDeleteI hope she did the lunch with the superintendent. That might have been interesting to see what transpired there. I remember going to a lunch sponsored by a service club when I was in high school for up and promising high school students. It was neat to be appreciated for my efforts at being a good student.
ReplyDeletebetty
Ah, life is full of choices ;)
ReplyDeleteHi Liz - perhaps she let the volunteer group know that she needed to go to the lunch, and promote her work with them ... I feel she'll be a leader and things will work out. Cheers Hilary
ReplyDeletesubbing is so fun—so many interesting stories!
ReplyDeletei’m teaching full time now, and I like getting to the know the person behind the personality =D
thanks for stopping by my Beast World campaign!
in my books, the harpy girls are the smarter of the species, and pretty and shiny — the boys are impulsive and tough, but the girls keep them in line!
Tara Tyler Talks
Pretty and smarter... Uh oh, not mean girls, are they?
DeleteWell shoot, couldn't they have let her know earlier. Seems like a power play to expect to jump given so little notice. Unless of course there was a date listed when she replied to the email. Even back in my day (the dark ages), no student would want to have lunch with an administration official. Doing so would make classmates think she was brown nose...teachers pet kinda thing. But, I'd love to know how it turned out.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't that kind of lunch. But yeah, it would have been nice to have given her more than two hours notice.
DeleteInteresting puzzle. My guess is lunch with the super may have been advantageous to the group she was volunteering with. And in fact, if she arrived at lunch with the super and explained, he may have listened to her concerns and cut it short so she could finish lunch with her group. Who knows!
ReplyDelete...but I generally find being with one person more manageable than being with a group.
It wasn't going to be just her and the superintendent. The superintendent had a group to meet, so the girl probably could have cut out early and not been noticed, I would think.
DeleteNever read it. But I find it fascinating that it was written by female
ReplyDeleteThat would have felt like punishment to me. I suspect some would consider lunch with their CEO as being in the same category. Not all, but enough, I suspect.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't intended as such, I'm sure.
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