Holmes: He's No Sherlock

I have lots of students that are, to put it kindly, less than brilliant. But I also have a handful of students that are actually very intelligent. Somewhere in the middle of the entire brilliant to not-so-brilliant pack, there are a few students who love to argue with anyone and everyone about anything and everything. In fact, I'm quite confident they have literally (or just figuratively) argued with a wall. It's like they can't help it. They have to argue and they have to win.

Holmes is one of those students. He is in my 6th class, which is filled with Study Hall kids (socialites, nappers, and gamers) and FLVS students (Overacheivers and slackers). For most of the year, 6th period met in the Library, but then we got moved to the HS Computer Lab. This excited my gamers and slackers because the Library has cameras and the HS Lab doesn't. They felt the freedom to invent new brands of shenanigans and tom-foolery because there were no longer cameras to keep them accountable.

I told them that it shouldn't matter whether or not there were cameras. They should do what they are supposed to do regardless of whether or not they are under video surveilance. So after a brief argument with Holmes about why integrity matters, he decided to go play Solataire instead of doing his work, which he was behind in. I told him to stop.

He came over to my desk and I explained that I wasn't going to get rebuked by my bosses because he had a hankering for Solitaire. He understood my predicament and said, "Okay. If someone important walks up those stairs, I want you to say the following words: 'The duck flies at midnight'."

First of all...No. I'm not saying The duck flies at midnight. It's just not happening.

Secondly, what a horrible code phrase. It's not something people just might happen to say in a normal classroom setting , therefore, it's really conspicuous when all of a sudden you hear a teacher say "The duck flies at midnight" while addressing a student or in this case, nobody at all.

So...No, I will not say "The duck flies at midnight" and no, you cannot play Solitaire when you're supposed to be working on your TCC homework. I feel like that's basic. Or rather, elementary.