Disciplinary Action/Disciplinary Office/First Week/Beatriz/Meet Third Grade

Meeting the Third Grade Students

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The students quickly fell silent as you and your sister stepped into the room. You weren’t sure if they were truly that well behaved, or if they were just curious to meet a new teacher.

“Ok everyone, I want you to meet a new member of our institute, this is John Gardner,” introduced you your sister.

“Good morning, Mr. Gardner!” was the almost unisonous response. You wondered if you sounded like that at that age.

Almost immediately, several hands went in the air, while at the same time some students started asking questions without waiting: is he our new teacher?, what’s his class?, is he your boyfriend?

“Quiet class!” instructed Beatriz quite softly, and to your amazement, the class got quiet almost instantly, “this is Mr. Gardner’s first week with us, so I want you all to treat him with respect, especially since he’s also my dear brother.”

Another cacophony of voices followed, amidst the laughs and Ohhs, you could hear more comments: what he gonna teach?, You have a brother?, can he be my boyfriend?, Why isn’t he Mr. Moore?, are you going to kiss him?

“Georgina Marlow!”, scolded Beatriz the girl in the first row that had asked that last question, “what kind of language is that?”

“Sorry Miss Moore,” said the girl, “I always kiss my brother when I greet him…”

Your sister smiled at that, and without pause leaned in and gave you a chaste kiss on the cheek, “That’s Ok, Ginny, but remember it’s not nice to ask that kind of thing to strangers.” she then addressed the whole group, “Now if you have any more questions raise your hands and wait your turn to speak.”

Several hands shot upwards, but the class remained in relative silence. Beatriz pointed to a boy in the back: “If he’s your brother, why isn’t he Mr. Moore?”

“Good observation, Mark. My maiden name was Beatriz Gardner, but when I married, I changed my name to Moore,” she explained.

Everyone knows that!, Are you stupid?, you managed to hear from two boys near Mark, quiet enough that Beatriz just had to glance at them to silence them.

“Is he going to be our teacher?” asked a black haired girl in the middle.

“Mr. Gardner is going to be in charge of discipline,” answered your sister, and continued in an inquisitive tone, “who can tell me what is discipline?” this time no hands went up immediately, but a boy on the front row timidly raised his, and Beatriz signaled him to speak.

“It’s when you get punished for doing something bad?” he softly asked.

“That’s only a small part of it,” corrected Beatriz kindly, “discipline is to teach you to follow the rules so you can be good citizens…” your sister took a moment before continuing, “and yes, Mr. Gardner will be forced to punish you if you break the rules, but I’m sure none of you will need that.”

Is he in charge of detention?, I saw a boy wearing a skirt and they say it was for discipline things!, I saw a girl in PJs, they say that also!

Beatriz had to, once again, quietly demand silence, and once again she was obeyed in short order.

“Your parents might have told you that from now on there will be different punishments for rule breakers, those students you saw are in fact being punished, and Mr. Gardner is in charge of that…” You could see Beatriz was having trouble explaining this to her students, so you decided to intervene.

“As your teacher told you,” you began, “you don’t have to be afraid as long you respect the rules. I’m sure you’re curious as to why the punishments were changed, so please raise your hands all of you who had been sent to the office before.” you asked. Almost all the hands in the room went up, some slower than others, you notice that the shy boy in the front row was one of the few that did not raise his hand, “Ok, now keep your hand up if you have received detention at least once,” only one or two hands went down, “what about two or more times,” now several hands went down, but five remained up, “and what about more than five times,” all the hands, except the one belonging to the brunette on the first row, went down, “I’m sure you don’t like detention, but the fact that many of you have received it multiple times shows you didn’t learn from it. How would you like to have to come to school in bunny pajamas?” you said, directing it to the brunette girl, “or having to wear a skirt to school?” this time you directed your question to the group of boys in the back, “I can see the idea doesn’t appeal to you, and that’s exactly why those are punishments, because if you have those in mind, it will be easier for you to remember the rules.”

The students remained quiet after your speech, and you feared you had scared them too much. You just hoped you had not made things more complicated for your sister once they really started asking questions, you didn’t want to give her any more hardship than you already had.

“Ok class,” Beatriz grabbed the students attention with her soft but firm voice, “we need to continue studying, and Mr. Gardner has to return to his work, so say goodbye.”

A chorus of Goodbye, Mr. Gardner! followed, and at least it seemed they were back to their happy selves. You said goodbye to your sister, assuring her you would meet after classes and leave the classroom.

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Back in your office, you reviewed your meeting with all those cute boys and girls. Strictly speaking, talking without permission was a rule violation, even if a very small one, but you could use that to get a little closer to one of those 8-year-olds.

Call a third grade student to your office:

• The brunette on the front row, she clearly was a troublemaker in the making.
• The leader of the boy band in the back seats.

Just finish your job for the day:

• Meet your sister at the end of the day.