Teacher Embarrassment: Things you should never say.

You learn a lot in your first year as a teacher. For example: how to do lesson plans, how to control your classroom, how to use the online gradebook, etc. You also learn some very important life lessons. One in particular is to think before you speak in all situations...all the time....especially when lecturing.

I was teaching a unit on sewing. One of the days we were learning about hand sewing and the students were learning to sew on a button. So here I am at the front of the class, going over the steps from cutting the thread length to tying off the end. I have an elmo device that projects what I am doing onto the board so the students can see it easier. I was getting ready to thread my needle and I was explaining to them that the hardest part for some of them was threading the needle. Especially the boys.

I told them that at some point they will probably become frustrated and say "Just get in the hole!!!" .....

.....

Now imagine this, a room full of 9th and 10th graders, a majority being boys. Yeah, pretty sure that was the first time my face turned red in front of my students! It was horrible!!!

The only thing you can do in a situation like that is keep going. So we moved on. Those students never let me forget that I said that the rest of the time they were at that school. Needless to say, I was happy the year they graduated!

Moral of the story: Always think before you speak, especially when holes are involved!