NYC Educator: No One's Perfect

NYC Educator: No One's Perfect:

No One's Perfect

I am almost never late to class. This works well for me as I'm tough on kids who repeatedly show up late. I'm usually able to enforce this pretty well. For example, when kids from some classroom insist that it is impossible to make it to the trailer on time from wherever they are in the building, I tend to find out where they are coming from, show up at the end of that period, and make that long adventurous trek to the trailer alongside them. Invariably we make it on time.

Kids are late because they can be late. If I allowed them to be late, some kids would be late every day. After all, there are important contacts to be made in the hallways, things that must be said, and hairdos and clothing that must be seen. But if you call their homes enough times, it's often so inconvenient for kids to show late to your class that they show late to someone else's class instead.

Now, in fairness, everyone is late sometimes. There are really no consequences for occasional lateness other than a look or remark from me. But, in fairness, even teachers are late sometimes. In fact, last week, I was in a rush to drop off a paper somewhere, and I walked into my own trailer moments after the bell rang.

The kids were having none of it. No excuse would satisfy them. One girl insisted on calling my home. After a while, I relented, dialed my home number, and let her talk to my wife. The girl insisted I be punished, that this was inexcusable, and demanded my wife confiscate my cell phone. My wife told the girl that I didn't really care about the cell phone, and that she would confiscate my laptop instead. This made the girl very happy.

Unfortunately, later on in the class, when I checked homework, I noticed that this very girl had not done it. This was unfortunate, as she had