Playing favorites

Monday Monday, you know the rest...

But the good thing is that it's time for another INTERACTIVE MONDAY!!!

This is the last Interactive Monday for the March Monday Madness Contest. Next week, I will draw the two names for prizes from the pool of everyone who has submitted a witty rejoinder to an Interactive Monday question.

This week's question is, Who was your favorite student of all time, and why?

I know that lots of kids come through our doors that we enjoy, adore, and love. But most of us can pick one or two that stand out even from all the rest. For me, it was a little girl that I had my second year of teaching. I've made it a policy not to use names on my blog, so I'll continue that tradition by calling her A.

A was the sweetest, friendliest, brightest little girl I've ever known. And by brightest, I don't mean most intelligent. She was bright enough in that sense, but I mean brightest as in vibrant and joyous. She always had a smile on her face and was cheerful about everything. I can remember several times when I would be at the back of the classroom watching the kids do their independent work, and A would look up from her work, flash me a brilliant smile, and then get back to work. This would just make my day, even if I was already in a bad mood.

A moved to another state the next year, when she was in fourth grade, but the day she left, she stopped by my classroom to say goodbye. She gave me a big hug, her new address, and a cute little ceramic football bank.

I do miss that little girl.

Now let's hear from you! I want to hear all about your favorite student, or students, if you really can't choose just one.

My crazy is crazier than your crazy

I just learned today that parent conference night is this Thursday. Of course, I'm sure it's been on the official school calendar all year long, but I'll admit right now, I very rarely look at that thing. So, I've allowed it to creep up on me...

I was about to write something else, when a really really nasty thought broke into my mind. It only at this very moment occurred to me that parent conference night on Thursday means I don't get to watch ANY basketball that day. I already knew I was going to be missing the early games because of the school day, but I was looking forward to going home and having an evening full of basketball, followed by an entire day of basketball, since we have Good Friday off. Now I'm going to miss ALL of Thursday!!!

@!#$^!!

Anyway, moving past that little detail (which really SUCKS!!), let's get back on the theme of conference night. And while we're at it, let's tie that into this week's

INTERACTIVE MONDAY!!!

OK, here's this week's question: What is your worst parent conference? This could be during parent-teacher conference night, a conference over the phone, or just a random conference at any time with the parent.

If we're talking worst foot in the mouth moment ever, I'd probably have to go with the time that I asked a little girl's mother if she was her BROTHER. That certainly didn't earn me any brownie points.

But I had a phone conference last year that literally left me in tears. My hands were shaking, and my eyes were watering, because I was so angry after talking with this mother. I had called her after recess to tell her that her son was going to be suspended for cussing out on the playground. (The cussing was the last in a long line of transgressions.) Right off the bat, the mother asks me, "Well, did you tell him not to cuss?" Admirably, I bit back my first response of, "No, but I also never told him not to swallow a mountain goat whole, yet he seems to understand that he shouldn't do that."

Her next argument was, "Kids cuss at school all day long." I replied, "Not in my class, they don't." She immediately responded, "Well, was he IN your class, or was he on the playground?"

Later, when I told her that he was going to have to stay home for one day, she declared, "I really don't think it's going to teach him any kind of lesson if he just gets to stay home and watch cartoons and eat ice cream all day." Yeah, I think we can finally agree on something.

CRAY-ZEEE!!!

Anyway, now it's your turn. Tell me all about your worst conversation or actions with a parent. This is week three of the March Monday Madness Contest, so when you respond, you're entering yourself into the drawing for a great book or a fun T-shirt!

March Monday Madness

Hey everyone, it's March! And as we all know, we can't have March without a little Madness! So to celebrate, let's have ourselves a little contest! (And possibly use a few more exclamation points!!!)

This contest will run through the month of March, and it will tie in to the Interactive Mondays that occur during the month. It's quite simple to enter. All you have to do is leave a comment, answering whatever the question of the week is. Leave a witty rejoinder, and you get one entry. You can only get one entry per week, but you can get multiple entries by participating each week. If I've done my math correctly, there will be FIVE Interactive Mondays in March this year, so if you respond every week, you can have five entries in the March Monday Madness Contest!

I will select two winners once we are in April, and those winners can take their pick of two prize options. Option one is a copy of the heralded, acclaimed, prize-winning novel, Learn Me Good. Option two is a stylish, classy, fashionable T-shirt from the Mister Teacher's Store. There are many designs to choose from, but I'd like to highlight this one, as it goes with the theme of the contest.

So that's it! Simple, right? So let's get on to the question for this week's

INTERACTIVE MONDAY:

If you could not be a teacher, what would your dream job be?

I think that my dream job would be color analyst for men's college basketball games. I'd like to be Dick Vitale, only WITH hair and WITHOUT the screeching. I just can't imagine a better job than one that pays you to travel around and watch the most fantastic sport on the planet. ESPN, look me up, baby!!!

Your turn now, what would you love to do? Leave a witty rejoinder, and then tell all of your friends (or blog readers, as the case may be) about the March Monday Madness Contest!