The 50% Rule

You would think I'd have figured out by now that the 50% rule always wins when it comes to figuring out how many people are actually going to show up to an event. Case in point: yesterday's Silent Lunch.

In an effort to help my students get opportunities to use their sweet signing skills at times other than just classroom stuff, I've tried to organize after school activities. I decided to give Silent Lunch a shot, passed around a sign-up sheet and had about 30 kids (minus the student who wrote in three other students' names) sign up to come. I ordered pizza, and wanted to make sure I had enough for everyone, especially since I was charging them $2 for lunch. What was I thinking? Anyway, when all was said and done, I had two pizzas left over, and ended up spending more than I collected from the 16 kids who came to lunch. My student aid during 8th period didn't mind a bit though... "Hey, can I have some pizza?" Me: "Knock yourself out. Want another slice?" Him: "Do you mean it?" Repeat 4 times.

Things got off to a rough start when the pizza delivery man came with a different total than the one I had been given over the phone. I had the check made out yesterday, and had to run back to my room for an extra $2. Came back huffing and puffing (stairs) gave him the $2, and watched as the secretary pulled another $5 out of her wallet to give him for a tip. Oops! Forgot about that. Ran back upstairs, two bags of drinks, chips and salad in hand (I had two slaves...I mean students...with me to carry the pizza), and had about 1 minute before lunch started to get things set up. At this opportune moment, Girl Who Never Comes to Class and Doesn't Pay Attention When She Does Come wanted to find out what we've done in class all week. I'm out of breath after running to the office twice, and have my arms full of lunch. After I tell her what we did this week, she wants to know why she has an F. At this point, I tell her, "This is a really bad time to talk about this. Come back later." What I really feel like telling her is, "Do you honestly wonder why you have an F when you don't complete any assignments when you ARE here? Oh, and you stare at the ground when I'm SHOWING you how to sign the vocabulary I have listed on the board. Unless you have eyes on the top of your head, there's no way on earth you will pick up anything we are learning if you don't look."

Back to lunch. I didn't want this to be a "silent lunch" in the way we had "silent lunch" as a kid--punishment for being too noisy in the lunch room. My goal was to have the students come in and, well, chat in ASL during lunch. I had a student who was in charge of organizing an activity for lunch. Her activity consisted of going around the table, say your name and something you want for Christmas. This was accomplished in about 2 minutes, and then they sat and stared at each other in silence while they ate for another 15 minutes. Not quite what I had in mind. Sigh.