Saturday, September 1, 2007

Chants, Swearing, and Threats

That describes an elementary school pep rally.

What? You've never been to one? Really? How can that be?

We start every year with a pep rally run by our SCA. We swear in our new SCA classroom representatives and do some school-wide chants to promote school spirit.

This year's should have taken place a couple of weeks ago, but it had to be postponed after we lost power for most of the day and the fire alarm randomly went off requiring a visit from the fire department. So, it was the end of the fifth week before we had our 'start-of-the-school-year' pep rally.

We have it at the end of the day on a Friday. Not surprisingly it's hard to get the kids to behave. One of the teachers in charge threatened to send the fourth and fifth grades back to their rooms if they couldn't behave. I'd have happily taken my class.

Call me a grinch, say I have no school spirit, but I could do without elementary school pep rallies.

1 comment:

organized chaos said...

I strongly dislike the pep rally. I love the teachers that put it on, it's nothing against them. But I hate the pep rally. My first two year at our school I had a special needs children have complete meltdowns because of the noise and chaos in the room. I sent one to the clinic because he was convinced his ears were bleeding.

Last year my class didn't make it to the pep rally. We practiced walking in the hallway the entire time because we couldn't walk to the pep rally without hitting, spitting, or pushing.

This year I hosted a 'pep rally is too loud for me' party in my room. There were a few kids I knew wouldn't be able to handle it, and a few who looked terrified the moment I mentioned it and told me they didn't want to go.

This year worked well. I think I'll keep that up. I'm glad I'm not the only one who could live without it. Next year, both school detectives are welcome to join me at my party. Maybe you can convince some other specialist to watch your classes.