Prom

After picturing in my mind what this event was going to be like for the past few weeks, getting my tux cleaned, inviting my brother (who was visiting me for the weekend), and talking smack to the kids about my dance moves, the event finally arrived last night. On the invitation, it said prom lasted from 8-11 pm. So my brother, another teacher, and I pulled up decked out in our best formal wear about 8:20. We were the only people there, with the exception of one poor couple, who, like us, apparently didn't realize that you weren't really supposed to show up until an hour after it starts. So we sat there out of place -- as if three white guys at an all black prom weren't already out of place enough -- and waited.... for forty minutes. Kids didn't show up until 9. And the majority of them didn't show up until 9:15-9:30. We had already ordered the De La Hoya - Mayweather, Jr. fight on Pay Per View, so we had to head out at 9:45. I got to watch 15 minutes of dancing. I got to talk to a handful of my students. I was disappointed. I'd been building this event up for so long and it fell so far short of my expectations, mainly because I should've known better than expect them to show up when I expected them to.
On the positive side though, it was a great opportunity to watch the kids in their element. I'm still amazed at how different the kids act towards you when you're not trying to teach them something. Kids that in class hate me came up to me and gave me hugs or handshakes or cracked jokes. I really wanted to get out there with them and make a fool of myself, but I was so conscious of an administrator thinking it was inapporpriate or unprofessional, that I stayed in my seat the entire time I was there. I still in a sense resent some of the higher-ups at my school that assume in order to be an effective teacher, you can't be friendly with a student. That's not my style at all. I think the more a kid sees you as a real person who is understanding and genuinely wants to help, the more likely they are to respect you and act accordingly in your class.
Anyways, we left by 9:45. I'm sure I'll catch hell from the kids on Monday. I guess I'll just know better next year. I'm going to have to attempt to start back teaching this week after basically having two weeks where I never saw the kids, so that's going to be fun. I've got the days marked until I'm done and I'm really looking forward to the summer. I guess it's not completely the end thought. There's still one more major event that can possibly live up to the pre-hype of prom: graduation. I really hope that one doesn't disappoint.