School Daze - Classroom Advice - Behavior Etiquette for the Adult Student

Nothing is more embarrassing than not fitting in with your peers. As an adult returning to school one area where you’ll want to fit in is in the classroom. It can be daunting to open a classroom door and the room is filled with students young enough to be your children. Most kids will also feel uncomfortable because they might feel like they have a parent in there with them. All kids think everyone over the age of 30 is really ancient. Soon they’ll be asking you if you were born before the car was invented. To be sure you fit in with your classmates follow these simple rules;

If there is a scuffle in the class don’t shout out that phrase you would say to your own kids, “Don’t make me come over there.”

You probably shouldn’t order another student to move out of your chair since it’s not really your chair like you can claim in your own house.

Don’t take your youngest child to class and ask if any of the kids in the class want to babysit during class hours.

If you’re in a freshman class it’s not a good idea to ask the students to go to a bar for a drink after class.

If someone gets a less than a good grade on a test don’t start into a speech about how studying harder and longer would improve their grade.

Don’t turn your conversations into questions of the students’ diets, sleep and driving habits.

Follow these simple guidelines and forget that you are a parent when you are in the classroom and I’m sure by the end of the semester your classmates might even want to live long enough to be your age.

Have you gone back to school recently? Tell me about your adventures?

Thirteen Things About The Bedtime of the Sky and Other Sleepy-Bye Stories

The Bedtime of The Sky and Other Sleepy Bye Stories is an illustrated Children's book of five of my original bedtime stories in verse. This book was actually written long ago for my nieces and nephew, John, Catherine and Elizabeth, when they were very young children. Although they are now in college, actually two have graduated, I do have a new little reader to write for, my four year old niece Jillian! I love writing poetry and fantasy stories and to mix magic with ordinary experiences. These bedtime stories in verse reflect my idea that there is magic in everyday events. For instance, I just know that there is a Dragon in the sock drawer that eats socks so we cannot find them, or that Dolls have a secret longing to help us clean up our room late at night! A little about myself, I was born in England and although my parents moved us all back to America about a year after I was born, I truly believe that the stories and British classics that I grew up with, have had a huge impact i...

Frank Nash: the Most Inspirational English Teacher I Ever Did Know! By Vincent Zandri author of The Remains

I never set out to be a writer. Back in 1979, when I entered the Second Form in a 200 year old, all boys, military school called, The Albany Academy, I simply wanted to become a rock n’ roll star. Like Ringo or Keith Moon, I wanted to play drums in a huge rock band, make a ton of money doing it, get lots of girls, and see the world. While most of the uniformed boys sat attentively in math class, taking copious notes, I drew illustrations of huge drums sets and stared out the window. All that changed when for the first time, I was introduced to Frank Nash in my second term English lit and writing course. First thing that caught my attention was the classroom itself. The Academy was an old building even back then, having been built in the 1920s. Made of stone and strong woods, with real blackboards instead of chalk boards, the place seemed like a kind of time warp. A school caught perpetually in the 19th century instead of one that would see the 21st century in only two more decades. But...

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First Draft to Published

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