Lamb Sakes Alive!

Dear Teacher,  

About fifty sheep walked into a supermarket.  Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, right (get ready, there are several coming!)?  And yet, while some speculated that it could have been a stunt for EWETube, market staff, the shepherd, and all fifty sheep insist that it just happened by shear chance.

A shepherd was in the middle of moving his 500 sheep to his winter home, as the flock passed the Penny Market in Burgsinn.  He suspects that some of the sheep were distracted by acorns, leading fifty rogue fluffballs to break away from their woolly companions.  Then, they were perhaps distracted again by a human customer entering the market holding a bag that they thought was food.  And all fifty baaaa-rgain hunters followed the customer straight inside.  The flock of fluffy clouds made themselves right at home browsing the checkout aisle, although none of them had a credit card on hoof, so no purchases were made.

Throughout the entire ordeal, customers and staff noted that the sheep were remarkably polite and not ram-bunctious in the slightest.  However, they did accidentally break some bottles and displays, mostly because, shockingly, the store was not actually designed to accommodate dozens of sheep at one time.  After about twenty minutes, the sheep calmly saw themselves back out the front door in single file.  The shepherd arrived to find his fifty adventurers quietly waiting for him in the parking lot.  While there were early rumors that the shepherd would be on the hookfor damages, Penny Market's response was quite the contrary.  In fact, they declined to disclosed the cost of cleanup.  Instead, Market owners graciously offered to pay for a years'-worth of food for all fifty sheep in order to thank them for the unexpected marketing opportunity, making shoppers flock to the store for discounts.

And you, Teacher, there in your classroom, may often feel like you're herding the proverbial flock.  Some days it may feel like the herd has gotten away from you.  You may feel lost in the chaos, moving from instruction activity to another, barely able to manage the group.  It might be that students go rogue, engaging in unexpected behaviors that cause bedlamb and breakaway.  Yet, you patiently wrangle them back, reaching for expert educator tools to hook them into learning.  And you lean on those around you to afford them grace for the bad behaviors and strategies for how to help them regain calm, so you can find yours, too!
 
Sheepishly guilty of sometimes losing my cool,
Mindy
Christian Educator & School Counselor