Is He the Coolest Teacher on the Planet? [Kicking Back with Jersey Joe] Jan18

Is He the Coolest Teacher on the Planet? [Kicking Back with Jersey Joe]...

Teaching can be one of the most under appreciated professions on the planet. Mouthy students, angry parents, and little pay make this one of the toughest jobs. Fortunately, one teacher kept his head cool when a gang fight breaks out in his classroom. Watch as he quickly and skillfully defuses the situation. There was no better way to handle this volatile situation than he did. He quickly stepped in and used tone of voice and authority to take control. While he kept the two fighting students in line, he never once started screaming, as many others would have in his place. His greatest line… “BEFORE I MAKE CHANGE OUT OF YOU… AND HIM!” Very well said and it caused the one punk to run out of the classroom. The diplomatic and controlling way he handled this would make him a perfect fit for President of the United States, don’t you think? Wouldn’t it have been great to see him lay the smack down on Congress, when they couldn’t get a budget in time for the fiscal cliff or get aid to Hurricane Sandy victims? I would also love to see him in addressing a foreign country that’s causing trouble? I’m sure he would calmly, but authoritatively handle the situation. If some bureaucrat gets in his face he could always “…squash this right now!” Imagine that with an army of well trained troops behind him! I would completely trust this guy with his finger on the button! According to comments on the video written by students, his name is Mr. Ruffin. The class this happened in was Algebra I at James Clemens High School, in Madison, Wisconsin. He is not currently listed as a teacher there, according to the school’s website, but the video was uploaded in 2011. When one room schoolhouses opened during...

You DON’T need a break. [On The Contrary] Sep07

You DON’T need a break. [On The Contrary]

The point of Labor Day weekend has always flummoxed me. Why do we need a holiday weekend at the end of August? Presumably we’ve been taking our vacations sometime over this period, and enjoying those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer. Yet apparently we need a break after all of that, a break that completely robs the week we now find ourselves in of any momentum. In school, we’d often start classes the week before Labor Day, only to immediately go into a 3-day weekend, completely throwing off class schedules right when they should be getting started. I’m not against holidays, and certainly not against the labor movement that this most recent holiday commemorates (unions helped put food on my table throughout my childhood). But there does seem to be a prevailing notion in our society that encourages us to take breaks more often than we need them. Advertising constantly encourages give ourselves a break, or have a treat. Self-help books and novels encourage us to find ourselves on vacations—to escape from the stress of our busy days. But how busy are our days, really? Certainly there are those out there who work 60 hours and more a week, who struggle through multiple jobs to support family or maintain a decent quality of living. But those people probably aren’t taking breaks—they can’t afford to. For the rest of us who work closer to 40 hours (or less) we probably tend to give ourselves too many breaks. Ok, I give myself too many breaks. I’ve never found it difficult to stop working and take it easy. It’s getting going again that is the real difficulty. There is nothing I have found that is more addictive than complacency—it’s really the root of all continuing bad habits....