Taking Roll
32 Kids? Shock Sets In, Followed by Love
Phillip Done shares his classroom adventures in a book.
(By David Fischer)
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California elementary school teacher Phillip Done has a new book, "32 ThirdGraders and One Class Bunny: Life Lessons From Teaching," recounting his adventures with a very large class. In the book, he describes a conversation with another teacher about the size of their classes at the beginning of the school year:
"How many kids did you get?" I asked.
Dawn looked at her list. "Twenty-eight."
"Twenty-eight!" I screamed. "I have thirty-two. How many boys do you have?"
She counted. "Fourteen."
"Fourteen!" I yelled. "I have twenty-one!"
"That's not bad," she said.
"Not bad? I have the entire NFL in my room," I whined. "I'll trade you."
"Phil!" she screamed.
"Come on!" I begged. "I'll wash your car every week. I'll write all your report cards. I'll do your yard duty for the whole year!"
"Yeah, right. That's what you said last year. Now get out of here." She laughed.
"OK," I said, "but I'm going to go see Cathy about this right now."
I couldn't find Cathy. I didn't expect to. Cathy is never around after she puts the lists in our boxes. Actually, she stays out of sight for the next two weeks and waits until we fall in love with our students and wouldn't dream of giving any of them up. Smart principal.
