Tagging

My kids think I have cracked - which maybe I have. On Monday we had a school improvement team meeting. The discussion turned around to how to improve the climate. We've had this discussion all the time, but with no action coming of it. We talked about having the kids create something to represent themselves to hang in the hallways - some sort of collage or something. I may still do that next week, but that evening an idea started to form. We have these spots on the walls where there used to be bulliten boards. I decided to frame those in with paint and put in some quotes written in large writing. Then I thought, why not have the kids do it? And while we're at it, why don't we just have them tag the walls with inspirational quotes? After all, they're writing all their stupid gang crap on them anyway, so why not give them permission to write something positive instead? I asked the principal, and she said, "Do I look like I care? Go for it." I went and bought about 200 sharpies and some paint and stencils, and on Thursday afternoon I started stenciling in the borders with the help of a few kiddos. They were wigging out - what are you doing? Do you have permission? Have you lost your mind? The most discouraging thing was the number of them who said, "Don't bother trying to make this school a better place, Ms. McCants, they'll just come in and mess it up." Anyway, Friday was a half day with low attendance. I handed out 97 pages of inspirational quotes, pulled the sharpies out, and told my kids to do crazy. We spent the whole day in the hallway with all the 10th grade teachers, all the 10th graders who were there that day, and even some juniors and seniors. We hung out, wrote on the walls, and enjoyed each others company. All of the administrators loved it. The only problem we face now is the loiterers who are doing to come and gawk, but that's a good kind of problem to have. I'm also going to let kids continue writing during lunch and other times until the walls are totally full. The kids loved it, but I do think they think I'm nuts.






Other than all of that, it was a great week because I finally got my beautiful stools. My kids love them and I love them. They let me take their pictures sitting on them, so here they are! Thanks SO MUCH to Paul and to Jim and Suzi and Bill and Selma for making this happen!