All Aboard!
Dear Teacher,
A goat in Michigan got into a school bus and refused to leave for two hours. The kids thought it was the best day of their lives. The driver did not.
It started the way most things on rural routes do -- the door was opened.
The Haverford family runs a small hobby farm about a quarter mile off Route 9 outside Traverse City, and their three-year old pygmy goat, a stocky little tan-and-white male named Senator, had a well-documented history of escaping the property and making poor decisions. That particular Thursday morning, the school bus made its usual stop at the end of the Haverford driveway. The doors opened. And Senator, who had apparently been waiting near the mailbox, walked directly up the steps and onto the bus like he had somewhere to be.
Driver Paulette Morris, who has driven that route for sixteen years, said she didn't even process what happened for a full three seconds. By the time she did, Senator had already walked to the back of the bus, selected a seat, and was standing on it looking out the window. The seven children already aboard lost their minds completely. It took a call to the school, a call to the Haverfords, and eventually Mr. Haverford arriving in his truck with a handful of crackers to get Senator off the bus. Even then, according to Paulette, he had to be carried down the steps because he'd decided he was done walking.
The bus was twenty-two minutes late that day.
The Redemption Result? Several students told their teachers it was the best commute of their lives. Later, Paulette submitted an incident report. In the section labeled "Describe the situation," she wrote four words and stopped: "A goat boarded voluntarily."
And you, Teacher, there in your classroom, have likely had some unexpected student behaviors board your school year. You may not have recognized them during the first several weeks of school, but now that you're full-throttle-driving into Fall semester, it's apparent that these behaviors are along for the ride. So you do what any expert educator does: You problem solve. You call your administrator. You develop strategies and interventions. All the while, you ensure student safety and manage voice levels to mitigate the behavior's impact. And finally, when you're completing an incident report, or supporting the student in writing their Reflection Sheet, you do it in a way that brings about change. You take every incident and turn it into a Redemption Result, where students learn new ways of behaving, and others remember the grace-filled approach you handled a difficult situation.
And it all starts with opening the door of opportunity as you welcome each student to your classroom.
Opening With You,
Mindy
Christian Educator & School Counselor