Practical Jokes....

Some people like to play practical jokes on others. Some are very funny, some are goofy, and some are just plain mean-spirited. What is acceptable and what is not? Who decides? When is it all in good fun and when is it hurtful?

Our campus likes to have a lot of fun. Our motto is "Work hard. Play hard." And, WE DO! Recently, several teams of teachers have started to "punk" other teachers. Thankfully, our hall is kind of off limits. Our leader, who should be retired who doesn't like silly behavior would go off the deep end if something happened in our hall. Everyone considers us the "sticks in the mud." We aren't. We just don't have time for nonsense. Don't get me wrong, I like a good joke. However, I would be extremely ANGRY if someone did to me what they have been doing.

Example: One morning a team came to work to find all of the student desks from 4 classrooms all in one classroom. A teacher with an empty room was out and the sub walked into a room with no desks. The kids missed out on about 15 minutes of instruction because they were moving desks around. To me, that was over the line.

I am mentoring a first year teacher, who also attended our school since I've been teaching there. Don't I feel old!!!!! I had to do an observation of him. He did a GREAT job. I left a sticky note under his keyboard telling how great he did. But, I left another sticky out in the open that read "This was the worst class I've ever been in. We need to do a lot of work before T comes in. You better start praying now." He hunted me down to let me know his heart dropped to the floor over my comments--until he saw the other note.

Well, payback is hell. He got his revenge from an unlikely source. The principal who evaluated me the other day sent my observation to me. I was a TINA....Teacher In Need of Assistance. I was marked BELOW expectations in several categories and was pretty much a crummy teacher. I have never had scores this low...EVER!!! It took me about 5 pages before I saw the note "Just kidding." I was worse off than my mentee! I actually was in tears when I read the report. But, then I laughed. I'm still laughing! (I got the REAL deal back today--I did great.)

This was not over the line. Please share your favorite practical joke with the rest of us!!!!!!