Wet Cleanup In Room Four

Firemen came to my classroom yesterday. They came because I called them. I had to call them weeks in advance, but they were prepared when they got there. It wasn't any sort of emergency. My students were prepared too. They asked questions about Risks and Consequences - the them of our language arts unit. As is most often the case, they were on their best behavior since it was anybody but Mister Caven they had to listen to. When we had finished with the interview portion, we went outside to examine the fire engine.
The kids all got to take a turn squirting a real fire hose, and they got to climb inside the engine. I learned the distinction between fire trucks and fire engines: Trucks are rolling toolboxes, while engines carry their own water. You're never too old to learn. Then it was time to go home for a three day weekend. I felt very smug in the notion that just about every single one of my students would have something to tell their parents about what they learned in school that day. I was that pretty cool teacher - if only for that afternoon.
Contrast this to Philip Frandino, a fifth-grade teacher in Charleston, South Carolina who allowed five students — a boy and four girls — to use a trash can as a toilet during a school lockdown drill when no one was supposed to leave the classroom. Oops. When a girl used the bathroom, other girls held up jackets to shield the view while other students stood on the opposite wall with their backs turned. Boys also did the same for the boy. Maybe the fifth grade was working on a unit about survival. Or staging a class version of "Lord of the Flies." Or maybe Phil won't be getting that Teacher of the Year certificate for this go-round. "We always learn something" during lockdown drills, school district spokesman Jerry Adams said Friday. "And clearly communications between the classrooms and the main office to get directions on things was one of the issues here." Well good - as long as there was learning going on. My suggestion: Next time stick with the fire fighters. It's an easier cleanup.