Nigel
Footballguy
I picked my 8th grade son up from school today, and the thread title is what he said to me as soon as he got in the car. Then he told me what went down.
In the middle of class the teacher abruptly paused and asked my son's buddy Ethan to meet him outside in the hall. Ethan and Mr. Smith disappeared for a couple of minutes, then returned. Mr. Smith then told the class that he had to step out for a minute, would be right back. After he left the boys asked Ethan what happened, and he told them Mr. Smith had heard him talking crap about some other boys and gave him 4 hours detention. The other boys were shocked, it wasn't like Ethan to get in trouble and it was out of character for Mr. Smith to come down so hard. Minutes passed and the conversation among the boys (9 of them) escalated, kids busting Ethan's chops and also railing on Mr. Smith..."What a ####-move!" "That's bull####!" "He must be on the rag"...they made fun of his clothes, his facial hair...it went on an on. The room was buzzing with banter until finally Mr. Smith opened the door quickly and walked in. The room went silent in an awkward way as he entered, and Mr. Smith said "Sorry I took so long, what were you guys talking about?". They glanced around at each other but nobody answered him. As they sat there he walked over to his computer, pressed a button, and the 8 minute conversation he missed started replaying on the speakers.
Charlie said every kid's face turned ghost-white, a couple buried their faces in their hands and shook their heads. The recoding played for a couple of minutes, a few mild curse words were heard but it hadn't yet gotten into some of the stuff they were really dreading him hearing. At that point Ethan raised his hand and asked Mr. Smith to stop the tape, "I say some pretty bad stuff coming up soon and I really don't want you to hear it." Mr. Smith stopped the recording and said he may or may not listen to it later. And at that point let everyone know what this was all about...
He had taken Ethan into the hall and told him that he was going to leave class for 10 minutes, and he wanted Ethan to go back in the room and "try to convince all of the boys to leave the classroom". So Ethan when Ethan returned to class, the boys asked him what was going on and he quickly came up with the phony story about detention. Then he made up something else about leaving something in the library and wanting the other kids to come with him to get it, but the kids were like "wtf that's stupid" so he quickly gave up. Then the Mr. Smith-bashing started, and Ethan, who was sort of in on it but had no idea about the recording, was one of the heaviest bashers!
The whole point was that they are reading Lord of the Flies and Mr. Smith wanted to try to replicate the boys being on an island with no adults, and how that might effect how they speak and act.
Mission accomplished Mr. Smith!!
In the middle of class the teacher abruptly paused and asked my son's buddy Ethan to meet him outside in the hall. Ethan and Mr. Smith disappeared for a couple of minutes, then returned. Mr. Smith then told the class that he had to step out for a minute, would be right back. After he left the boys asked Ethan what happened, and he told them Mr. Smith had heard him talking crap about some other boys and gave him 4 hours detention. The other boys were shocked, it wasn't like Ethan to get in trouble and it was out of character for Mr. Smith to come down so hard. Minutes passed and the conversation among the boys (9 of them) escalated, kids busting Ethan's chops and also railing on Mr. Smith..."What a ####-move!" "That's bull####!" "He must be on the rag"...they made fun of his clothes, his facial hair...it went on an on. The room was buzzing with banter until finally Mr. Smith opened the door quickly and walked in. The room went silent in an awkward way as he entered, and Mr. Smith said "Sorry I took so long, what were you guys talking about?". They glanced around at each other but nobody answered him. As they sat there he walked over to his computer, pressed a button, and the 8 minute conversation he missed started replaying on the speakers.
Charlie said every kid's face turned ghost-white, a couple buried their faces in their hands and shook their heads. The recoding played for a couple of minutes, a few mild curse words were heard but it hadn't yet gotten into some of the stuff they were really dreading him hearing. At that point Ethan raised his hand and asked Mr. Smith to stop the tape, "I say some pretty bad stuff coming up soon and I really don't want you to hear it." Mr. Smith stopped the recording and said he may or may not listen to it later. And at that point let everyone know what this was all about...
He had taken Ethan into the hall and told him that he was going to leave class for 10 minutes, and he wanted Ethan to go back in the room and "try to convince all of the boys to leave the classroom". So Ethan when Ethan returned to class, the boys asked him what was going on and he quickly came up with the phony story about detention. Then he made up something else about leaving something in the library and wanting the other kids to come with him to get it, but the kids were like "wtf that's stupid" so he quickly gave up. Then the Mr. Smith-bashing started, and Ethan, who was sort of in on it but had no idea about the recording, was one of the heaviest bashers!
The whole point was that they are reading Lord of the Flies and Mr. Smith wanted to try to replicate the boys being on an island with no adults, and how that might effect how they speak and act.
Mission accomplished Mr. Smith!!
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