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That time of year again...
Well Mock Trial season has begun again. I'm excited because this year's case is very interesting (accidental death blamed on the entertainment industry. Oooh.) and because I have nearly twice as many students interested this year as I had last year.
Of course, there are benefits and drawbacks to getting involved in any student extracurricular activity:
Pros:
- I get a bit more pay, always a plus
- Since law was my career of choice before going into teaching, I get to involve myself in another activity that interests me.
- The case (Gallo vs. Urbanski) seems like a lot of fun. (Though it's hard to say some of the witness names with a straight face!)
Cons:
- Our attorney advisers haven't gotten back to me about helping out this year. If I don't hear from them soon, I'll have to scrape at the last minute to find a new lawyer to help the team.
- Additional extracurricular activity means few-to-no evenings free for Rummi from now until February. (*sigh*)
Also (somewhat unrelatedly), I got the following email from a friend of mine. Normally I delete most jokes/chain letters that fill up my mailbox, but every once it a while I get one that's worth sharing. I figured the teachers on my flist could appreciate this one:
School Answering Machine
This is the message that the Pacific Palisades High School (California) Staff voted unanimously to record on their school telephone answering machine. This came about because they implemented a policy requiring students and parents to be responsible for their children's absences and missing homework. The school and teachers are being sued by parents who want their children's failing grades changed to passing grades even though those children were absent 15-30 times during the semester and did not complete enough school work to pass their classes.
This is the actual answering machine message for the school:
"Hello! You have reached the automated answering service of your school. In order to assist you in connecting the right staff member, please listen to all your options before making a selection:
"To lie about why your child is absent - Press 1
"To make excuses for why your child did not do his work - Press 2
"To complain about what we do - Press 3
"To swear at staff members - Press 4
"To ask why you didn't get information that was already enclosed in your newsletter and several flyers mailed to you - Press 5
"If you want us to raise your child - Press 6
"If you want to reach out and touch, slap or hit someone - Press 7
"To request another teacher for the third time this year - Press 8
"To complain about bus transportation - Press 9
"To complain about school lunches - Press 0
"If you realize this is the real world and your child must be accountable and responsible for his/her own behavior, class work, homework, and that it's not the teachers' fault for your child's lack of effort: Hang up and have a nice day!"
Was it actually real? Who knows. But how many of us really wish we could make such a statement some days? *G*
Of course, there are benefits and drawbacks to getting involved in any student extracurricular activity:
Pros:
- I get a bit more pay, always a plus
- Since law was my career of choice before going into teaching, I get to involve myself in another activity that interests me.
- The case (Gallo vs. Urbanski) seems like a lot of fun. (Though it's hard to say some of the witness names with a straight face!)
Cons:
- Our attorney advisers haven't gotten back to me about helping out this year. If I don't hear from them soon, I'll have to scrape at the last minute to find a new lawyer to help the team.
- Additional extracurricular activity means few-to-no evenings free for Rummi from now until February. (*sigh*)
Also (somewhat unrelatedly), I got the following email from a friend of mine. Normally I delete most jokes/chain letters that fill up my mailbox, but every once it a while I get one that's worth sharing. I figured the teachers on my flist could appreciate this one:
School Answering Machine
This is the message that the Pacific Palisades High School (California) Staff voted unanimously to record on their school telephone answering machine. This came about because they implemented a policy requiring students and parents to be responsible for their children's absences and missing homework. The school and teachers are being sued by parents who want their children's failing grades changed to passing grades even though those children were absent 15-30 times during the semester and did not complete enough school work to pass their classes.
This is the actual answering machine message for the school:
"Hello! You have reached the automated answering service of your school. In order to assist you in connecting the right staff member, please listen to all your options before making a selection:
"To lie about why your child is absent - Press 1
"To make excuses for why your child did not do his work - Press 2
"To complain about what we do - Press 3
"To swear at staff members - Press 4
"To ask why you didn't get information that was already enclosed in your newsletter and several flyers mailed to you - Press 5
"If you want us to raise your child - Press 6
"If you want to reach out and touch, slap or hit someone - Press 7
"To request another teacher for the third time this year - Press 8
"To complain about bus transportation - Press 9
"To complain about school lunches - Press 0
"If you realize this is the real world and your child must be accountable and responsible for his/her own behavior, class work, homework, and that it's not the teachers' fault for your child's lack of effort: Hang up and have a nice day!"
Was it actually real? Who knows. But how many of us really wish we could make such a statement some days? *G*