I had my annual observation earlier this week — for me, that involves an administrator visiting my classroom and taking extensive minute-by-minute notes on what I’m doing, what I’m not doing, how I can improve, etc.
My boss happened to visit me early in the day — around the time the Pledge of Allegiance is said over the loudspeaker.
I never say the Pledge. As it turns out, neither do my students. They don’t stand either. I chalk that up to laziness and not any political stance on their part, but no matter. They know I’m not going to be upset if they stay seated. The Pledge ends. We go on with class. That’s the routine. If anyone did stand up, there wouldn’t be any problem. It’s just not a big deal.
So the boss is in my room when the Pledge comes on. And, expecting that we’d all do the same, she stood up.
She was the only one.
Oh boy…
This is the boss who was so awesome during the whole IFI debacle last year. The last thing I want to do is give her reason to think there is more drama coming.
She asked about that later. I told her I had never said anything to the students regarding the Pledge — it was their own choice whether to stand or sit. We left it at that and the rest of the review went very well.
Do other atheist teachers have to deal with this…? I wonder how you all would handle this.
…
On a more positive note, we were discussing examples of good and bad ways to design an experiment in my AP Stats class.
One example of a bad way to obtain data? Online polls. Because they’re not scientific and they can be easily manipulated (among other things).
But wait… I teach that class in a computer lab… (cue lightbulb)… might as well make the most of it!
Me: Everyone log on to your computer! Now!
Them: Done.
Me: Go to the website of that small local newspaper.
Them: Done.
Me: See the survey in the sidebar?
Them: Yes…
Me: Look at the results. See how there’s a total of 10 votes and how choice A has the fewest?
Them: Yes…
Me: You know how they publish the results of this survey in the weekly print edition?
Them: Yes…
Me: Everyone go click on choice A.
I can’t wait to see next week’s issue 🙂
Pharyngulation isn’t a term in my school’s Statistics textbook. But my kids just learned all about it.