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The Pencil Sharpener-Drinking Fountain-Rest Room Checklist

Dec 30, 1998

In the in-school suspension room at the middle school, students were not to talk or to get up out of their seats. In effect, then, I had 10 kids trying every pretext they could think of. When Megan came in the room, she didn't have a pencil and had to borrow one. By lunchtime, she made enough trips to the pencil sharpener to erode my brand new pencil down to the very core.

It was apparent to me, then, that I needed to keep records. Otherwise, I could not remember all the trips which all the students made to all the major attractions. The students probably knew that, too. Let's all keep a steady flow of traffic in every direction and keep him confused!

So I made one heading for each major attraction. For every trip I saw a student making, I noted the student and the time. One of the students wanted to use the pencil sharpener, so I said, "Let me see the pencil." It was already sharp enough to use as a lethal weapon. When I saw another student headed for the trash can, I noticed that the same student took the same trip 22 minutes before.

I asked, "Do you really have to go to the trash can once every 22 minutes?"

She made a feeble excuse which I don't remember.

I asked, "Are you looking for an excuse to get up and get some exercise?"

She admitted that she was.

I said, "Thank you for being honest."

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