If you have ever been a girl between the ages of learning to write and owning a pencil (or at the very least, having access to one) you have probably been caught in a note-passing scandal.
You might not be the person the teacher actually takes the note from but if you are one of those kids who always took great care in printing your name neatly at the top of any piece of paper, (that’s my girl!) chances are, it didn’t take long before the teacher hauled you in for questioning and you wondered how on earth you had been caught.
The subject of my daughter’s parent-teacher interview was not geared so much around academic achievements but rather on a particular note the teacher had found involving my daughter and a friend. Of course, there were other names within the note, there was really an endless web when it came to trying to list who to contact, what faction of the FBI to involve and how to delicately discuss such a sensitive issue.
The contents of the note were not (in my opinion) earth shattering by any stretch. It was grade four girl stuff about who was whose bff that day and what precautions the girls were prepared take to ensure all-things-bff remained stable.
Note passing isn’t exactly the same as it used to be but somewhat similar. With texting and social media, there is a broader audience to reach and at a much faster pace than asking Ian if he could hand the note to Samuel who would then be tasked with paper-airplane-ing it to Ryan who would inevitably unfold and read the note while four girls blushed, sighed and one finally stormed over and yanked it out of his untrustworthy hands. One job Ryan. You had one job.
This was often the time in my classroom the teacher would figure out there was a longer than usual pause in the Pioneer Village re-enactment and would catch us in the act of passing. He or she would then have the student in possession of the note (let’s call her, “soon-to-transfer-schools-Susie”) read the note aloud to the class. Oh. The. Horror.
I don’t think they do that anymore because it’s a form of bullying and the school board is too busy working on their “things to ban this week” lists to listen.
Our notes were also different because we always had a question with two boxes at the bottom to indicate either “yes” or “no.”
This encouraged the note passing to continue over several periods and the questions could have been anything ranging from, “Do you like lemonade?” Please check “yes” or “no” and return to sender to, the more risky, “Do you like David?” Please check “yes” or “no” even though the person who sent the note knew VERY WELL that you liked David or, the note might have originated from David in the first place which when you think about it was pretty smart.
I didn’t see any options for checking boxes on Hanna’s note but is that all automated now?
