F You, Ms. Steen

I am one of the lucky few teachers I know to have a SmartBoard in their classroom. It's an amazing piece of technology. I use it daily. For those not in the know, a Smartboard is just like a big screen in the front of my classroom. It has a projector and is hooked up to my computer. Anything I do on my computer can be seen on the Smartboard. I can also write on the Smartboard - so it can double as a chalk board or white board. Very exciting. Well......even though the Smartboard is off, if you touch it, it affects my computer - and thus comes your first full fledged stupid kid story.

It's 1:04 the bell rings for 4th block to start. I go in to start the kids on bellwork for Math. I love teaching Math. And today, I had already decided that I would let them go to the computer lab and play math games if there were anywhere near decent.
I have to get on my computer to take attendance. It is a chore that has to be done at the beginning of every hour, in the first 15 minutes. I walk behind my desk and there's a message for me on my desktop. It says "Fuck You" in bright lime green. I catch my breath, because I know exactly who it is and this kid isn't one of my overwhelming 'bad' ones. I ask the class to raise their hand if they touched the Smartboard in anyway. A few were like, "I was over here but I did..." So I looked at my para, handed out some worksheets and asked the stupid kid to go into the hallway. And I proceeded to 'walk and talk'. (That is what I do when you're going to the principals office and you don't know it). So I asked him if he knew that whatever we wrote on the Smartboard showed up on my computer screen. He of course said NO. I asked him what he wrote on the Smartboard and we talked about the obscene language and that I took offense to it because it seemed like this message was for me. He was very quiet, but did say he didn't know. We got to the Principal's office and I had her tell him the consequences of this - but that this time would be a warning. Because I do believe he didn't know that it went on my screen. And he's a kid that would never say FU to me or call me a b to my face. Behind my back and for attention from other kids - it's a whole other story.
I've really got to start bringing my camera to work for precious moments like these.