Sunday, March 8, 2009

Defiance

I was in the office of an elementary school the other day when the phone rang. It was a teacher calling to ask for help from the teacher specialist. Apparently one of her students was being defiant and refusing to remove his hat in the classroom.

The teacher specialist rolled her eyes and headed out the door. In only a few moments she returned. "He just got a buzz haircut yesterday," she informed us. "He didn't want anyone to see his hair."

"So what did you do?" asked another teacher.

"I asked to see his haircut, then told him he looked handsome. He wasn't defiant," she reported, "He was just embarrassed."

And what is the difference when a teacher can't get a student to remove his hat?

3 comments:

  1. Ali, as you may know from my blog, covered his hair with his hands the other day on the way into school. He was fine with the haircut at home, but there was something about everyone looking at it that bothered him.
    Sounds like the teacher might need to bend the rules for a morning.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your blog reminded me of this story... It didn't sound like anyone needed to bend the rules, so much as honor, or acknowledge his concern. I've found the bending the rules is seldom the answer. Consistency is at the the heart of a well-run classroom!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes, you've got a point. I think of the time, too, when Dad got so upset that an usher at church asked a young guy at the back to remove his hat, thus making him feel out of place and unwelcome. I guess in that instance bending the "rules" wouldn't have mattered.

    ReplyDelete