Nancy Flanagan is a retired music teacher living her personal lakeside dream in Cedar, Michigan. She is a National Board Certified Teacher and was named Michigan Teacher of the Year in 1993. She is an active musician. Flanagan has been blogging for 20 years, including a nine-year stint as ‘Teacher in a Strange Land’ @ Education Week. She splits her time between wondering how things got so messed up, and advocating for America’s best idea: a free, high-quality fully public education for every child.
Teacher in a strange land 
Your remarks concerning the CovCath boys perfectly stated all the things I felt/thought as I’ve veiwed videos and read opinions. I am a retired school principal in north east Kentucky, about two hours from Covington. I have family connections in the Covington area and am a little bit familiar with the culture there. I would like to share your blog piece on my FaceBook page. May I?
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Sure.
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[…] post by Nancy Flanagan discusses the unintended consequences of using an “intervention” strategy that […]
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May I reprint your piece for my blog Rethinkinglearning?
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Absolutely–thanks!
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PS… Another interview question… “What do you believe about learning?”
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Hi Nancy Flanagan: I read your review of Mardi Link’s book Isadore’s Secret. Fifty some years ago I lived on cherry orchard in Isadore. It was my habit to walk to rise about half a mile away from which I could see the church at the four corners. Such a peaceful sight it was. My favorite part of the story is at the end when the sisters of the religious order in Wisconsin open their hearts and residence to Janina. I was going to say it’s Christian of them, but instead I’ll just say it’s what we’re supposed to be like as good people.
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Hello Nancy,
I enjoy your work and just for fun, I wanted to share a “teachable moment” story with you. When my son was in high school a young woman asked him to the prom. She was cute, very smart, and on the gymnastics team. He basically put her on hold for a few weeks until he heard back from a pretty, popular and rather buxom cheerleader, who eventually accepted his offer. The first girl then discovers why he declined her offer, taps him on the shoulder one day when he was at his locker and says, “So….you were just stringing me along, huh? I was not your plan B!” Thwack!! She slapped his face and walked off.
He got no sympathy from this Mom. In fact, I told him to apologize to her, and he did. She is now a successful attorney. I’ve often teased him about choosing the wrong gal. lol!
Interesting little footnote – there was a female teacher whom he knew well who was in the near vicinity when it happened. She walked by in the immediate aftermath, while he was standing there alone, rubbing his cheek and feeling quite embarrassed. She simply stopped for a moment, smiled and said something like, “don’t worry, you’ll work through it”. I thought that was classy. It showed confidence in him to fix things with the young woman. I love the sisterhood component there as well, since the teacher deferred to the girl’s judgement that a slap was fully warranted for this transgression, without the teacher knowing the details. We women have to stick together 🙂
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I did connect with that teacher on facebook and then asked her if she remembered that episode. She certainly did and her remarks are below! We had a lovely exchange.
Oh yes!! I do remember that incident. In my forty years of teaching, it wasn’t the first or last such episode that I either saw firsthand or heard about through other teachers. When you have very sensitive teenage girls and clueless teenage guys, it’s a recipe for emotional outbursts. I think that was the only slap I actually witnessed, but I recall other teachers mentioning such cases, so I wasn’t unprepared for the image of a disoriented young man nursing a sore cheek 😉 Speaking of which, she sure gave him a doozy. Haha!! Since I knew both students well, and respected each of them, I thought I should offer him some support. Not all guys that age would be mature enough to conduct themselves with such grace after an episode like that so he was ahead of the curve. I have to say, now that you explained the circumstances, my goodness, he did have it coming. And that’s why the unspoken rule among teachers was to look the other way and not report the girl, since odds were the guy probably deserved it. Yes, as you say, there was some female solidarity going on there. lol!
P.S. The maternal instinct in me said that I should get him some ice from the teachers’ lounge for his sore cheek, but then I immediately realized that was an awful idea and would result in further humiliation from his peers. haha! I feel honored to help him navigate his first slap from a woman, though I certainly hope it was his last 🙂
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Thanks for the follow-up. Also– thanks for being a good (meaning thoughtful) mom, and being honest with your son.
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Thank you for the kind words, Nancy! Good call by the teacher on nixing the ice for his cheek after that gal gave him a “doozy”. Lol! Definitely a coming of age/baptism by fire moment for my son in understanding women 🙂
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