Now that Dallas ISD has a student dress code, teachers have become the unofficial enforcers of that code. Most of the kids do wear the collared shirts like they're supposed to, but many if not most of them have a huge problem with tucking their shirts in.
Every year, I tell myself that that is a battle I'm not going to fight because it's just not worth the time and effort. And every year, I get annoyed when I see someone's shirt untucked five seconds after I have just watched them tuck it in.
This year, instead of just ordering the kids to tuck their shirts in every time I see a violation, I have taken to calling names. I tell the kids, "Please don't be a Slobby McSlopslop with your shirt untucked. I'd like to see Spiffy McNeato with the shirt tucked in!"
So whenever I see one of my kids with his/her shirt tail out, I just say, "Hi, Slobby." They instantly know what this means, and tuck their shirt in. When my kids come in with their shirts tucked in, I say, "Look at all of these Spiffy McNeatos I have!"
Truth be told, I can't say that this has caused the kids to uphold the dress code anymore than they did before. But it does add a little humor to the situation. Now I just have to deal with the Talky McBlabbermouths, Snitchy McTattletales, and Burpy McFlatuents...
4 comments:
I worked for years in private boarding schools that had dress codes like that! I hated it when they would tuck the front of their shirt in but not the back . . . the girls would wear shirts that were very elegant (and expensive) but not designed to be tucked in and other teachers would chastize them for it, despite the fact that the girls actually looked very sharp (far more so than some of the teachers!)
The kids looked forward to moving on to their next school where they would not have such a strict dress code. We had a part-time staff member on weekends who explained to the girls that she had been told very pointedly at the large corporation where she worked during the week that her skirts (on the knee) were too short, and the color of her suits (red) was too garish and inappropriate, and her heels too high. They were stunned that anyone in the 'real' world had a dress code!
I've used "Talky McTalkerson" for years. I knew I should have copyrighted the formula!
In fact, when my dog had puppies, I had three that still needed to be sold. I didn't want to give them real names because I didn't want to grow too attached to them.
So I called them Crappy McCrapperson, The Turdinator, and Sir Poopsalot. I didn't get rid of the last one and didn't realize that his name was a self-fulfilling prophecy!
The problem with this at my school was that administrators did not back up the teachers. We were told to send students to the office and they would be sent home or to ISS. Yet, they were sent back to the room because the administrators said there were no dress code violations by the time they arrived at their office. It became a game to the students and the teachers became frustrated.
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