The Wheel of Misfortune

Well, the school year is well underway. I've been trying to catch the kids doing crazy things so I could post here but there hasn't really been much to report. My craziest kids are in class first hour (which means they are too tired for any antics). And, two of the kids I could rely on for blog-worthy behavior don't take Spanish anymore.

I did hear something in the teacher's lounge the other day worth sharing. I think it is hilarious but you really have to keep in mind the fact that this was happening in the 70s and it was a different culture. One of my fellow teachers was talking about his high school physics teacher. If a kid misbehaved the guy would have the kids come after school to serve detention or they could spin the Wheel of Misfortune. This guy actually had a wheel with pie slices containing the alternate punishment to detention. I've done my best to describe the options below:

The Sin Box: It was a black wooden box big enough to fit in but not really big enough to fit all of your body inside. The teacher would take a wooden swatter and smack the front of the box really hard - too bad for you if you couldn't fit all the way in!

The Stocks: He actually had a real stocks and you spent the hour clamped in it. He had a table made to the appropriate height so the student could still take notes.

The Electric Chair: He rigged up a way to give the kids a slight shock using a metal pan, an old student desk, and a probe.

The Swat-Stick-a: The smack to the back side.

Free Space

My coworker said a lot of the kids chose to spin the wheel. They actually got a kick out of it! This might sound strange to people not still in high school but I can really see how high school kids would enjoy it. Especially because they never had to take one of the alternate punishments they could always just serve a detention.