Why I’m Not Bringing SexyBack to My Classroom

This year I am teaching all new students, which means they have to learn my rules. One rule that I established last year and will continue to stand by even until I have my own children is that the word “sexy” is not allowed. Seems kind of strict, right? A little too controlling, maybe? I mean, I teach teenagers, they are all about sexy, even the songs they randomly sing in class have the word sexy in them. So why wouldn’t I just make my life easier and give them the liberty to choose whatever words they want to use?

The dictionary defines sexy as an adjective that means, “concerned predominantly or excessively with sex.”  So, if I describe someone as sexy, I mean that they have, before their other qualities, sex appeal. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am fully aware that we are sexual beings and I consider our sexuality a beautiful gift. But the problem with “sexy” is that it does not acknowledge the other qualities of the person.  By saying someone is “sexy” you say that they have nothing to offer except their hot body. You separate the body and soul and become excessively concerned with the body and not aware of the qualities of the soul.  By calling someone sexy, I imply that I am using them for my own pleasure and refusing to see their dignity as a person, they merely exist for my selfish wants. 

What words can they use instead? 9 times out of 10 my students want to say that someone is beautiful, so why not use the word beautiful? The dictionary says this about the words beautiful, handsome, and pretty: “A person or thing that is beautiful has perfection of form, color, etc., or noble and spiritual qualities: a beautiful landscape, a beautiful woman. Handsome often implies stateliness or pleasing proportion and symmetry: a handsome man.  That which is lovely is beautiful but in a warm and endearing way: a lovely smile. Pretty implies a moderate but noticeable beauty, especially in that which is small or of minor importance: a pretty child.” I don’t know how you feel, but I would much rather be called any of the above words than sexy any day of the week.

When I was teaching my kids a few weeks ago, I had them describe their class to me. It was a class of all boys and one boy screamed out, “SEXY!” So I set my chalk down and took time to explain to them what sexy means and what you are implying by saying that. I then informed them that sexy will not be tolerated in my classroom, and the boy raised his hand again and said, ok miss how about silent? I chuckled and said, “I wish that described your class.”   

Take that, Justin Timberlake.

5 Things of this week
1. The classroom is a wonderful place J It always amazes me how much energy I get
when I am in the classroom teaching. It could be five minutes before class and I am
so tired and not ready at all, but once I walk into the classroom and get on a roll I
am never ready for the bell to ring.
2. Mosquito bites are like nail polish for our skin. Every morning I wake up with new
bites. I put spray on. I get to school. I put more spray on. This is part of my daily life.
3. My students are a continual reminder to me of why I am here. They never cease to bring me joy. Yes, there are those days when I just want to run away from them or not go to class, but at the end of the day Elisabeth and I are always falling asleep to each other telling stories from the day that involve our kids.
4. TIB(This is Belize). This is a saying that gets used lot around here.Basically it is
what we say when we refer to something that has happened that seems to us
volunteers to be ridiculously dumb, not needed, taking too long, illogical, etc. I feel
like this year I laugh more at the things I got frustrated with last year. I am not
surprised that orientation week was spent in a room with non-working AC, reading
slides word for word about how to manage a classroom. I am not surprised that it
took two Friday to get down the “Friday Schedule”due to Mass taking place. There
are just some things that will always be and will not change.
5. I missed the heat!Weird I know, but I really did. All summer long I was walking
around wearing sweat pants and hoodies. The kids at the summer camp I worked
at this summer thought I was insane for always being so bundled up. When I got
off the plane in Belize one o fmy first thoughts, after the one “it is nice to be home,”
was “it feels good to be sweating again.” It isn’t too bad right now, but there are
some days when you get out of the shower that you took not because you needed
to clean up,  but because you needded to cool down, and then you continue to sweat three minutes later. Such is life.





It's Belle! So she really doesn't like her picture taken, seriously, every time I have a camera she gets that look on her face like I'm torturing her and she runs away. But she looks great!   

Have you ever had a to-do list so long that instead of ticking the items off one by one you decide to become incredibly overwhelmed and do something totally irrelevant anyway?

Yea, me neither.

I mean, the pile of journals and papers that need to be graded, my grade book that needs to be filled in, the posters that are waiting to be made for my homeroom, and the three lesson plans that need to be created are not daunting…okay, maybe just a little. But hey, I try to stay positive.

We are now about halfway into the second week and there seems to be a never-ending pile of things to accomplish. It’s no one’s fault but mine though, I am the teacher, I am sure my kids would love to not have any homework for a change; I guess I’m not that nice. 

Today as I was going around and checking homework, one boy told me he had forgot it at home. “That’s too bad,” I replied, and I moved on. “But, Miss! Can I turn it in tomorrow?” he asked, I replied “class, what is my policy on late homework?” A storm of answers followed that question, most of them were playing with me and saying “you get an A!” But finally one little boy answered, “you can hand it in but you get points taken off.”  “Very, good” I replied. And then the boy asked me “how much points?” (that’s a direct quote) I thought about it for a minute then I replied “ten,” and I watched his jaw hit the ground, “nah, miss! Five.” So I said “ok, but you are going to have to bring me some chocolate.” His face lit up and he said “Miss, I will bring you the nicest chocolate ever!” I doubt that he will be able to find me the nicest chocolate ever here in Benque, but you never know! I also hope he knows I was kidding…

In other news, Belle (my dog), is not pregnant! For a while we thought there was a possibility that she was, but yesterday we all but confirmed that she was not.  Judging by the amount of male dogs hanging around outside my fence I can guess that she is in heat.  However persistent they may be, they certainly will not be allowed in, the last thing I need is a liter of puppies to take care of. I hope they get the picture and take a hike because I don’t like what they are leaving behind.