This fall I went back to teaching after a three year break to stay home with the kids. I am teaching middle school science at Timothy Christian School. Middle Schoolers are hilarious! One thing I noticed is that their lockers are an abyss! They make a toxic waste dump look like the botanical gradens.
Last week I noticed that one of the 8th grade boys could not close his locker door because of all the papers hanging out. I asked him if he would mind if I cleaned out his locker for him. He was so excited and said that would be "the best thing that ever happened to him."
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| This was the pile of papers that I pulled out of his locker! |
Since it was the last day of the first marking period, it was safe for me to throw out most of those papers. I just saved the tests and quizzes that I found so that he could use them to study for midterms. I put those papers in the top of his locker.
I hung up the jacket that was at the bottom of the abyss. I guarantee that he hasn't seen that jacket since the first week of school. I also neatly stacked his books at the bottom of his locker. I was lucky that there was nothing smelly in there!
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| The finished product! |
I think it will be much easier for him to get to class on time. I plan to check in with him during the week to make sure that he is keeping his locker clean. He needs to learn to get organized so I think this will be an ongoing process.
So what is my new business idea? If you haven't figured that out yet, I am going to offer my locker cleaning service to the students. I think they would pay $10 that. What do you think? :)
But where will they get $10?
ReplyDeleteI am just kidding about charging them.
Deletelol!! I think it's a fabulous idea!! :) Their parents might pay you since half the time, the parents probably need to see things that are hidden at the bottom of the lockers! I taught 5th grade and wish I'd thought to do this with their desks. :)
ReplyDeleteYour post made me smile... I remember quite a few messy boy lockers when I taught middle school! Definitely worth the 10 bucks for help cleaning them!
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing that boy was finding anything. I never kept locker in an unruly state. I definitely think $10 is reasonable fee for locker cleaning. You never know what you're going to find in some of those lockers.
ReplyDeleteI'd think it be fascinating to see what a lot of them have hidden away in their lockers!
ReplyDeleteI think it's a fabulous idea! I'm sure you will have lots of business. My son's locker looked just like the before picture up there. I could never seem to get him to keep it neat. I would get on to him when I saw that, but it would be the same the next time. Oh, well, he's moved on to college now. His room there is actually pretty neat!
ReplyDeleteAs a parent, and an organizational professional, I commend you on identifying this child's need to learn better organizational skills. I think it is important to start teaching things like prioritizing, planning, time management, organization as early as possible as it is a life long skill. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteHaha! This is too cute and funny! I'm pretty sure you could make a hefty penny with that! xoxo
ReplyDeleteHaha, that's an awesome job idea! ;)
ReplyDeleteyep! this could be a more-than-full time job! thanks for sharing the story, love your great attitude!
ReplyDeletestopping by from Hope in Every Season link party
Cute story! Thanks for adding it to Time For Mom! Hope to see you next week. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun idea! Can you come organize my house for $10.00?
ReplyDeleteYou'd make a fortune says someone that knows she could have used your services many years ago LOL! Thank you for sharing this at the party this week! I am featuring it on my Facebook page and have pinned it to the You're Gonna Love It board on Pinterest :-)
ReplyDeleteAs a fundraiser for a local food bank, each year at Christmas we had twelve days of locker checks. If a student had a messy locker he/she had to pay a quarter to the fund. This was middle school and we always found mystery food stuff along with the paper trash. At the end of the year we had them donate with their parent's permission the clothes in their locker. A few parents volunteered to wash the clothes. Both of these activities were to cut down our MOUSE population! I loved teaching middle school!
ReplyDeleteYou're hired! My son is in desperate need for organization. His favorite thing to say is "I can't find it".
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea... thanks for sharing at One More Time Events... Tammy
ReplyDeleteWow! You definitely turned that locker around! Maybe he will get with it. :)
ReplyDeleteI didn't think teachers were allowed to go into kids lockers without a warranted cause (i.e. suspected drugs or weapons.) Have kids lost all right to privacy now? (Not that I'm saying what you did is wrong at all! I'm just curious about the regulations.)
ReplyDeleteThat may be the case in a public school. I teach in a private Christian school. The parents and students are aware that we may enter lockers at any time. There are no locks on the lockers. In this case, I talked to the students ahead of time and asked him if he would mind if I cleaned his locker. I don't think he thought I would really do it.
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