Education, etc.

Trust me on this one, if you are going to teach, especially middle or high school, you have to have thick skin. Kids will give you a nickname whether you like it or not, and they may even use it to address you directly. There are other things that you will need, a nose that is sensitive enough to catch the sneaky kids but passive enough to ignore the boys after gym, physical education, or weightlifting. You need a creative streak that would rival Bob Ross, the ability to think on your feet like an action hero, and an avoidance of gaff better than any politician who has ever lived. For now, we will just concentrate on embracing how you are seen by your students.

Anyone who has been in education longer than a few years can explain the expectation of being friendly without being their [the kids’] friend. However, those teachers who look over their glasses and down their noses at students, especially in the upper grades, are just not as likely to build the kinds of positive relationships with students that foster a love of learning, create a classroom environment that is welcoming, and encourage students to take risks. At least that has been my experience in observations teachers for the last 17 years. There are some outliers, but just saying that makes my non-statistics brain hurt.

When dealing with middle school and high school students, if they find out their nickname for you gets on your nerves, prepare for it to stick! For instance, somehow my students thought calling me Miss Frizzle would get on my nerves. How could that ever be anything but a compliment? Miss Frizzle was imaginative, innovative, engaging, and she dressed like the lesson she was teaching, not to mention an amazing class pet. When I spoke with a dear elementary teacher friend of mine about being nicknamed and how I take it as a compliment, her eloquent response was, “Hell yeah, Miss Frizzle was cool as crap!” And if your childhood did not include Miss Frizzle, her science lessons, her class of characters, and her The Magic School Bus, it is not too late, episodes can be found all over the internet.

One class was especially set on this nickname. Being that it was a smaller class of AP Chemistry students, they decided to each pick a character from The Magic School Bus, I made my own Miss Frizzle dress, and we took a picture. Other students did not have to ask why I was wearing a dress covering in lightning bolts and light bulbs or why some of their students looked less like their daily selves. They all knew The Magic School Bus had arrived on campus for the day. It is a wonderful memory that I cherish even now, many years later.

I have taught in different schools and systems covering grades 6^th through 12^th. Each of them thinks they are the only group of students to come up with this same nickname. And I just have to giggle, because if group after group of students comes up with the same nickname over multiple schools, perhaps I do embody some of the amazing qualities that are Miss Frizzle. It could very well be that I am redheaded, female science teacher with a large personality, but hey, they see a connection, and I will accept it as high praise. Likewise, every class of students, at every school responds the same way if I ever say “field trip”…one student will say, “I hope this is a normal field trip,” and then another will say, “with the Frizz, no way!” I knew the moniker was permanent when a Miss Frizzle sticker appeared on the back glass of my car and the response from my students when I asked for a confession was one not of regret for doing it but rather for not thinking of it sooner.

Even my coworkers have jumped on the band wagon. While hanging around the cafeteria for afternoon duty, one coworker who I adore for his give and take banter, said, “How many more coins do you have to put in the machine before you doctorate pops out?” I laughed as this is his normal ribbing of the day which he usually follows with, “Don’t worry, I am collecting Cracker Jacks and Box Tops for Education!” I told him coins or box tops did not matter, all that mattered was in a few months I was making him call me “Dr. Hayes.” He snorted and said, “More like Dr. Frizzle.”

I have no doubt when my students catch wind of this, I will be yelled at through the hallways, when I am seen in public, even when I am on vacation in international waters on a ship with a major cruise line (it has happened). I will have to hold back my smile for fear that they might find out how much I love being their Miss Frizzle.