What Not To Do

For those of you who didn't know, this past Monday was the first day of the new school year at my year-round school.  Each and every year, the week of the fourth of July is the one week where all of the students are off, and us teachers get to work on staff development and getting our classrooms together for a new group of students.

Part of our yearly staff development includes "refresher" trainings on Bloodborne Pathogens, Sexual Harassment, Seclusion and Restraint, and Students with Diabetes.  For good measure, this year they threw in one on Students with Allergies.  These "trainings" are online, in the form of videos and/or Powerpoint presentations.

Keep in mind that this one week without students is a busy, busy week!  So the last thing anyone wants to do is sit in front of their computer for two hours and listen to stuff they hear again and again, year after year.  I've listened to this stuff so many times now that I tend to drown it out, or busy myself with other tasks while the videos are playing.

But this year, as I was ignoring listening to the Seclusion and Restraint video, one segment caught my attention.  This, my friends, is a list of ways that I am not permitted to punish my students.

THANK GOD they told me that!  I had the electric shock station all set up and ready to go.