Career Fair!

A few days ago, we received an email from our counseling office letting us know that today was the career fair. I found it odd we were notified so late, but (thankfully) it worked out just fine. Actually, I was worried about the lesson I had planned before being enough for the whole period of instruction, so this was a welcome surprise!

I had the chance to work with the police officer at our school for most of the morning. The drama in the room was palpable. Top three questions of each session:

"Have you ever been shot?"

"Do you have to get pepper-sprayed and tasered to become a policeman?"

"Have you ever shot someone?"

It was great. But, hands down, the best part was when the officer got real with the students. As he was describing the process of becoming a police officer, he said the following: "When you apply to be a police officer, you have to take several tests - a physical exam to make sure you are fit for duty, and a couple other tests to see how good you can write. You have to be able to write in complete sentences, to use punctuation, and to write quotations all for the reports that you have to fill out as an officer. That's most of my job anyway - filling out reports and checking reports to make sure that they are written correctly. If you can't write good, you can't be a police officer."

(Was I tempted to tell him it was actually "write well?" No. Not at all. :D)

Yes, folks. You have to know English in order to be a police officer.

As this officer was detailing these requirements, I saw one of my English students in the audience. One of my little sassy 8th graders who has, on multiple occasions, voiced his frustration with my class and how none of it matters. He looked over to me just as the officer mentioned writing quotations, saw me flash a "See-I told you so" grin, and covered his face with his hand, hiding the smile underneath.

It was so great. I had him talk to the class about it later - how he heard that he has to be able to use English for a cool real-life job.

It was like everything came together - the stars aligned and English was a valuable part of their lives, just for a moment!

Success never felt so good!

And of course it all fit into my lesson so well - students were learning how to write instructions today, so I had them reflect on one of the careers they learned about and write a list of instructions directing me about the steps I had to take to get into that career.

Whoever came up with the career fair is an absolute genius. Never again will I ever even remotely think about complaining about missed class time. Nope. Not a peep from me.

Thank you real life for motivating my students to care - even for just a moment.


OH - and I have to just say.... I was in the teacher's lounge today for lunch and some of the other teachers came up to me to tell me they heard from some of their students that "Mrs. Brown is really mean." Just as I was about to crumble up in a heap of sorrow, their reactions to this statement caught me off guard. They stated their congratulations and offered accolades for achieving the status of "Mean teacher" this early in the year: "It's a good thing!" they reminded me. "It means you make them work hard and they know it."

Well, that is true.

Still, it makes me wonder who those students are.... ;)