New Athenian Academy

“I have yet to see one book on how to get through April Fool’s Day.  Each year thousands of first-year teachers walk blindly into their first April without any guidance on how to survive it.”

Thankfully my April Fool’s incident didn’t come until my third year of teaching.  By that time, I had developed the philosophy of tolerating or out right ignoring certain things that happen, if nothing else to save my sanity.

Why didn’t I get the April Fool’s pranks before the third year? Don’t really know.  Maybe I was the scary teacher; the one with no reliable history to gauge a reaction to a prank.  Maybe they liked me too much to do it; of course not, they always loved me. Maybe I wasn’t even on their radar before then.  Whatever the reason, my time did not come until the third year.  And I walked blindly into it.

The day started normally enough… morning devotions, attempt at humor by the biology teacher, sleep seniors.  Then we moved to U.S. history and everything was normal.  Prep period went well. (I actually got crap done, imagine that).  And then dark clouds formed on the horizon, but I couldn’t see them in my safe and comfy classroom…

During passing period, the Spanish teacher called me outside to answer a question from the new English teacher.   Kind of weird, but not completely out of place.  So I went and answered the question.  I came back and started to teach sociology.

*Side explanatory note: To be fair, sociology is always kind of a crazy class.  We tend to talk in tangents that eventually circle back to the topic for the day.  Kids ask me strange questions, we get into strange discussions, and there’s an overall feeling of looseness to the class.  So the following events, were not completely strange given the history of the class.

At some point in the class, we got on the topic of my arrival at the school.  I was telling them ab out the state of the classroom when I started.  It was filthy!  Dust was everywhere, personal items were left in the two teachers’ desks, and all the students desks looked like they were thrown into a pile on the side.  I was amazed that nothing was broken.  So I had to spend my first day, not getting my lessons ready or hunting down textbooks, but cleaning a classroom that should have already been in decent working order.  At telling the story, one particularly vocal student decided that he didn’t quite understand how it would have looked.  So he and another decided to reproduce the leaning tower of desks to get a better picture.  They took all desks not currently holding a student (probably 18 of 24 desks in the room) and began to pile.  Once they finished I truly had a pyramid of desks that the instigator decided to sit in the desk at the top.  Wow!  Crazy, not completely unexpected.

After the construction portion of class, I tried to get back on track.  And then we heard a thump from the closet.  Weird, but considering that there are a million and one things in that closet, none of which are actually mind, I thought nothing of the thump.  Something probably fell over or the mice finally infiltrated the closet.

About a minute later one of the Spanish students came over.  He had to take a test and the Spanish teacher sent him to me.  Nothing unusual at all.  I send students over there all the time and so sends them to me.  So I told him to have a seat and take the test.

Then another thump from the closet…

About 2 minutes later, another Spanish student got sent over.  Made me pause, but not stop teaching.

Another 2 minutes later, another Spanish student…. Very weird.  Especially considering there were only about 10 kids in the entire Spanish class.

Another 2 minutes later, another Spanish student…

Now I start to wonder about what’s going on.

Thump! Thump! from the closet.  One my sociology students turns to me and all scared says she thinks there’s someone in the closet.  I’m thinking “there’s not way anyone could fit in that closet.”

Another Spanish student…. wearing a sombrero!

Okay, some thing’s up!  I am not completely unobservant!  ”What were all the students absent on the last test day?”  ”Well, yeah Buff, they were.”  ”Uh huh.”

I keep teaching.  Another Thump!  The girl finally decides to go look in the closet.  She tiptoes over, and opens the door just a crack, screams, and falls back on her behind.  At this point, I am certain there is someone in the closet, but decide to completely ignore it.

Another Spanish student, carrying a computer monitor… not a computer, just the monitor.

All of this is happening while two my sociology students are sitting in desks within the leaning tower of desks…

I have just about decided to acknowledge the craziness, when one of the Spanish students falls out of the closet.  And I do mean fall…  As there were boxes stacked in the closet to about three feet up.  Somehow my 6’3″ student squeezed himself into a tiny open space in the closet and had been sitting there for approximately 20 minutes.  He falls out of the closet and everyone bursts into laughter.  It was a great visual.  (Apparently he had infiltrated the closet while I was lured outside with that question from the English teacher).

Right after, the Spanish teacher herself bursts into my room with a sombrero yelling “April Fool’s!”  Well played!  Well played!  I only caught on about 15 minutes and 3 Spanish students into the ordeal.

Afterward, I learned the whole story.  The Spanish class (primarily made up of my sponsor class kids) had been brainstorming how to get me all week before.  With multiple suggestions and crazy ideas, they finally came to a simple yet effective plan.  Confuse me and try to see how long I would stay clueless.  Very well played!  A tip of the hat to you Spanish teacher and students.

Of course, the leaning tower of desks was not part of the plan.  That was my sociology students’ spur the moment craziness.  Just a normal day in 5th period.

Reflections on the day:  Unlike Mr. Done, I enjoyed my April Fool’s Day.  It was great.  It broke up the monotony of the usual schedule.  I didn’t know what to expect next from them.  None of their pranks were malicious.  They were all done with love.  Maybe that’s where we differ in our view of April Fool’s.  I recognized that my students only decided to make me the target because they actually like me (although they would never admit it) not because they wanted to embarrass me.  Maybe that’s the distinction.  Whatever the case, April Fool’s is a new favorite holiday.

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