Peace Corps: El Salvador

I had a little saying in my classes whenever my students would 'act up'.

The phrase went like this: "Whenever you've...got your degree, got your teaching certificate, lived in Spain, your name is on the door, and you're fluent in Spanish; then you can teach this class. Until then, you need to _______ (insert with correct behavior that needs to be exhibited by student)."

But as we know, kids catch on quick! So it came as no surprise that one day mid-way through my saying, I heard an echo repeating the saying along with me to the student off-task. As I turned to face the rest of the class, a handful of students were mimicking my motions as I was re-directing the student. I had repeated the phrase so much, they ended up memorizing it!

So from then on, the saying just became a part of class.

Fast forward to the last day of school. Energy levels at their highest, I had to repeat the phrase multiple times throughout the day. When I finished speaking with one off-task student, one little boy stood up and said, "...and you've lived two years in El Salvador as a Peace Corps volunteer then you can teach this class."

It definitely brought a smile to my face!