I prefer Monster In My Pocket to MUSCLE. There’s vastly more variety in the sculpts and there was some serious research into the folklore of various cultures.
I do not know the book. I am guessing kids would find it amusing. How much educational value it has, I could not say.
But if this were to happen in Canada, the teachers unions would likely be up in arms defending the right to silliness. Does this not happen in the US?
Not all admin staff is part of the teachers union. My understanding is that here in CA they are covered in some but not all districts.
This is not the case according to the sources I’m familiar with. “Cunny” is a later variation of the c-word that conveniently could create puns with “coney,” and coney (rabbit) changed pronunciation to be more similar to cunny. At best for your claim, I see speculation that it may be connected to coney/cunny, but cunny itself traces back to a root meaning female genitalia.
Maybe some older teachers can chime in but I don’t remember teachers reading to the class in 2nd grade. That was kindergarten stuff to pass the time of day. I distinctly remember kids had to read out loud in class in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade. That would have been in the early 60’s. Maybe teachers did and I forgot. I remember going to the public library where they read to kids but that was more theater than anything.
Really? I always read to kids up through fourth grade, up to 15 minutes daily. It was a highlight of the day and a chance to talk about deep comprehension skills such as characterization, foreshadowing, thematic elements, historical background, and the like.
I wouldn’t consider a teacher reading to the class to be notably out of place even in high school. Especially not a literally last-minute substitute with no idea whatsoever of the plans, as seems to be the case here. I’d say that the assistant principal did a good job of thinking on his feet, by grabbing a funny-looking book that would keep the kids engaged and reading it aloud.
As I said, I might not remember it. That was a long time ago,. I do remember being surprised at the kids who struggled reading aloud in the 1st grade. Which doesn’t make sense now considering we were learning the alphabet and stringing words together.
There was a significant push to read and I remember some company would come in and sell books to kids.
If this is a normal thing then the book sounds entertaining and engaging. It sounds like an excuse to get rid of the Assistant Principal. I’d get a lawyer and tell the Principal to blow it out his ass.
When I was in the 6th grade we had a teacher that would read aloud during recess for anyone who wanted to listen. One book that she read was Pet Sematary.
Wow. I wish I’d known her.
My ninth grade civic teacher would pick one day out of the week to let us work on homework while she would read a book aloud. It was only fairly recently that it finally dawned on me that she was reading books from so-called “banned books” lists.
So, my university just had the assistant principal who was fired on campus for a Banned Books Week event, so I thought I would post an update in case anyone was interested:
– He lawyered up, and the case is on its way to court (Chancery Court, probably the Mississippi Supreme Court after that if there is an appeal). It sounds like there were significant procedural issues at his hearing, so he probably has a good case. He also said the hearing itself started off being about the book and whether it was better / worse than other books that are also popular in schools, but by the second day they had basically left the book behind and turned it into a very nasty, broad-ranging character assassination, with accusations of stealing among other things. (I’d assume these were baseless, or at the level of “taking office supplies home,” because he had no prior disciplinary issues.)
– He was fired more or less immediately after the end of the Zoom call, and he thought the administrator who did it, who had no children and no elementary school experience, was anticipating complaints from parents that never actually came. (He didn’t say this in so many words, but reading between the lines, it sounds to me like she wildly overreacted in the moment, and then doubled down and leaned into the personal attacks rather than admitting she had screwed up. With, quite possibly, a heavy side of “having it in for him for personal reasons,” as people have speculated on his thread.)
Obviously, this is all his side of the story, but he came across as pretty genuine and trustworthy.
My grandmother was the head of the drama department and also an English teacher at an inner-city high school in St. Louis during the1980’s – '90’s. She once read the story about Petey the Snake to her class. In pre-internet days, that story was not widely known. Just in case you haven’t heard it – you can find many examples online now – here is just the beginning:
The kids were on the edge of their seats waiting for their esteemed teacher to screw up and pronounce a dirty word. But grandma was also an accomplished speech therapist, and never did. This elevated her status in the kids’ eyes forever.
AFAIK, she never got in trouble for this stunt, which she repeated yearly. It was a different time, and she had considerable clout with not only the kids, but the administration. I wonder what would happen now.
Times are different. Today, people read Go the Fuck to Sleep aloud to their babies.