Work Me

Today this entry will be all about me. Well, at the least the Day Me, the me most of you don't know. This is the me that keeps me out of trouble, from 8 to 5, five days a week, 10 months a year. In other words, it's about me and work.

I am responsible for the "climate", (no, not the temperature) at school. I am the one who is held accountable for all of the students knowing the rules and living by the rules. In return I dole out (positive and negative) consequences for their choices. This also means, I am the one who is held responsible to make sure all of the teachers spend the time to teach the kids the rules. While I am able to reward them for doing their job, I am not able to hand out negative consequences.

Guess which one is the more difficult?

One of my responsibilities is to pull off a monthly reward celebration for children who honor the rules. While these happenings need to be motivating enough for children to look forward to earning, they don't need to be extremely memorable.

Last year we had a policeman bring in his partner, the police dog. I was preparing for the guy to show some of the moves the dog could make. At the very least I expected the dog to demonstrate some jumps. Unfortunately, the dog was only for show, and the policeman just talked to the kids. Toward the end of an agonizing 20 minutes, he eventually took out a rope and played tug-of-war with the dog. This is what the kids will recall, the last 30 seconds of the event.

See? The kids looked forward to seeing the police dog, but it definitely was only slightly memorable.

This year we will start off, on Tuesday, with Beach Blanket Bingo. We have Bingo Cards using all of the words from our expectations (rules). Sandy, the Jenny Lind All Star Staff Member forever, will read the words over the loudspeaker. As kids win at Bingo, they will come to the center of the school to collect their Grab Bag Prize. Then it's over. At least until the last day of the next month.

Anyhoo, that is what I do for about 20 minutes, out of one day, out of 197 duty days, of each school year. This means that you now know just a teeny bit more about me. Well, at least my Day Me.