Funny Teacher Story: Call Me Dan

 

This happened to me after I'd been teaching about 10 or 11 years, so I really should have known better. 

At the beginning of school each year, one of the things I always asked my students is what name they preferred to be called. Now, I refused any ridiculous nicknames like "Bowtie" and "Spaghetti-o," but there were often kids who went by shortened versions of their names (Bill instead of William) or their middle names, or even initials.

I was going around the room in my advanced 9th grade English class asking what name they wanted me to call them, and this one boy tells me to call him "Dan." Well, his name was Peter James, so I thought...that's weird. Just to check, I looked around the room. No one was smirking or grinning or laughing. I asked them, just to make sure. They nodded. "Yes, that's what we call him," one girl told me. "It's a family name." Okay. Not impossible. My brother's nickname is Jordy but his given name is Jonathan Reginald S. III.

All year, I called him Dan. He always answered. No one laughed. For the next three years, whenever I saw him in the hall, I called him Dan. He always responded politely. I did hear other teachers call him Peter occasionally, but that always happens when students go by nicknames or middle names. Some teachers just refuse to call them anything but their first name. Or they don't bother to ask. (I think you can see where this is going.)

A couple of years after he had graduated, I saw him in a local grocery store and walked up to him to speak. I greeted him as Dan. He grimaced, shook his head, and told me, "You know, that was just a joke for the first day of school. No one else ever calls me Dan."

No shit. 

New Year's Goals-for Students

 

Looking for a great way to ease your students back into the swing of things after Christmas break? Here is a quick and fun activity to help them start thinking about the new year and to set up some attainable goals (some educational, some not) so they can finish off strong. You can find it here as a freebie in my TPT store.

Favorite Books to Teach: Heroes, Gods, and Monsters of the Greek Myths by Bernard Evslin

When my advanced ninth grade students came to me, their knowledge of Greek mythology was sketchy. Some knew a lot. Some knew a little. Some knew nothing. I didn't have time to teach the entire pantheon, but I needed them to have background in Greek mythology for several reasons. So I decided to assign a mythology refresher book as part of their summer reading.

1. We were going to read The Odyssey later in the year.

2. We were going to read Shakespeare, which, as everyone knows, is full of mythological allusions.

3. We were going to read poetry (same as #2).

4. I knew that in future years students would need some familiarity with mythology in order to identify additional allusions. I mean, these are advanced students, for Pete's sake.

I searched around and discarded several possible books on Greek mythology: Hamilton's Mythology (too dense and hard to read for summer reading), Bulfinch's Mythology (same), etc. I finally stumbled across this little gem and knew it was just what I needed. 

It covers most of the important myths (except for Hercules). It's very readable. It's very short. 

Now, you might think this book is too basic for advanced ninth graders, but I would heartily disagree. I don't want my students to have to slog through some impossible book during the summer. I want them to read something that won't take all their time and turn them off of reading altogether. 

This book was a great success. It refreshed the memories of my students who were somewhat familiar with mythology and gave a great intro to students who were complete mythology virgins. lol!

This book is accessible for everyone from 6-12 grade. Even your struggling readers can get through it. 

EASY MEALS: Crockpot Teriyaki Chicken

 

1 ½ lbs chicken breasts

1 cup teriyaki sauce

1 cup water

2/3 cup brown sugar

3 cloves minced garlic

Sprinkle of ginger.

 

Freeze until needed.

DIRECTIONS FOR PREPARING: 

Thaw the night before.

Add everything to crockpot.

Cover and cook 4-6 hours.

Serve over rice. Add some steamed broccoli as a side. Yummy!