My Life in Milwaukee Public Schools
Kindergarten to Retirement
by
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CHAPTER 24 – Did They Really Say That?
Over 50 years a group of diverse people made lot of interesting statements. I have come in contact with a lot of unique people over the years. Many of the comments are very intelligent and would put a smile on a face. Many comments are quite dumb. Some of the statements are humorous, others were sarcastic, blunt and obnoxious. Yet, no matter what the point of view, these comments still bring a smile to my face, in some instances, many years later. I’m going to point out some of my favorite wild and wooly conversations.
The first group of statements relate to things said at the kindergarten through grade school levels. Some were said when I was still a kid. Other conversations are between the gym teacher and his colleagues who work at the kindergarten and primary level.
A young boy pulled a candy bar out of his pocket right after he’d eaten a big lunch. His friend asks him how he can still eat candy after such a big lunch. His reply? I got a real small piece of cake for dessert, it really wasn’t much, so this will be my real dessert.”
In another case, a request was sent to the gym teacher concerning a program presentation taking over the multipurpose area during gym classes. It is suggested that “Mr. Wenzel should search for a different place to teach his gym classes during this time while Mr. Wenzel is supervising gym monitors to get chairs out for teachers to be placed in the gym for the program. Two Mr. Wenzel’s would have worked nicely in this case.
An unruly kindergartner was exasperating his teacher. One day he thought it funny to urinate on another student. “Just change him into different clothes, I’ll try to convince the child this is unacceptable behavior!” said the administrator supervising this situation.
The young children needed a place to stay during a parent/teacher conference. The parents noticed the sign on the cafeteria door telling them “babysitter at gym.”
A kindergarten student was not following directions at a tumbling station. He ran and fell on the mat, biting his lip. The gym teacher is asked, “Aren’t you going to write out an accident report about the bit lip?” The reply: “If I can find a category anywhere on the form about biting down on your lip it will be submitted.” There’s no such injury on the form.
Gym classes were notified classes would be outside on a cool day. The kindergarten class arrived with no jackets or coats. The teacher’s response: “That’s all right, they are all wearing long sleeves.”
A student told his gym teacher at
A student asked his gym teacher, “Do I have gym today?” The teacher asked the child “What day do you have gym?” The child replied, “I don’t know what day I have gym, and I really don’t know what day it is today, either!” Seeing that I had 1,000 students per school year, I have tried different methods to answer the question.
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About the Book
This is a book talking about the changes that have taken place in the Milwaukee Public Schools over a period of fifty years. It is seen from the eyes of a man who went from student to teacher, in the school system and worked year round at various other MPS jobs. As a student in the 1950’s and 1960’s, the high quality of the school system was evident. The changes started to be noticed in the 1970’s, as the authors teaching career was beginning. By the year 2004, the time of retirement,
About the Author
Michael Wenzel is a life long resident of the city of
Michael Wenzel has spent five decades totally involved in some capacity with the Milwaukee Public Schools. Wenzel intends to continue providing service to the school system and the children of the Milwaukee Public Schools.