What did the class clown do that ended a teacher's career? #shorts #storytime — Transcript

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1. 0:00What did the class clown do that ended a
2. 0:01teacher's career? Our sophomore English
3. 0:03teacher, Ms. Vogel, had one sacred rule.
4. 0:05Any note passed in her class got read
5. 0:07out loud. Not by you, by her. She'd
6. 0:08stand at the front, clear her throat
7. 0:10like she was accepting an award, and
8. 0:11perform your private words to 30
9. 0:12laughing teenagers. She called it
10. 0:14consequences. We called it the execution
11. 0:16stand. She'd read love confessions,
12. 0:18complaints about parents, once even a
13. 0:19girl's note asking a friend for a pad.
14. 0:21She read that one slowly. Nobody passed
15. 0:23notes by October. Nobody had to. She
16. 0:25found other ways. She'd mock Sam's
17. 0:26stutter by making him read Shakespeare
18. 0:27aloud, then sigh, "Take your time. We
19. 0:29only have 50 minutes." She'd hold up his
20. 0:31grades so the room could see the F's.
21. 0:32The counselor's office had a folder of
22. 0:34complaints. Nothing ever happened. Her
23. 0:35test scores were the best in the
24. 0:36district, and the principal treated her
25. 0:38like a trophy. Then there was Danny.
26. 0:39Danny was our class clown. Fake sneezes
27. 0:41during silent reading. Taped a googly
28. 0:43eye to the skeleton in bio. Once
29. 0:44answered every question for a week in a
30. 0:46pirate voice. Ms. Vogel hated him, but
31. 0:48Danny never got rattled. He'd take his
32. 0:49detention slip, salute, and go back to
33. 0:50scribbling in this beat-up green spiral
34. 0:52notebook he carried everywhere. "My
35. 0:53prank journal," he'd say whenever anyone
36. 0:55asked. Ms. Vogel mocked it constantly.
37. 0:57"Writing your little jokes, Daniel? At
38. 0:58least someone in here has material."
39. 0:59He'd just smile and keep writing. What
40. 1:01none of us understood was what he was
41. 1:02actually writing. In November, Vogel
42. 1:04crossed her own line. Sam had written a
43. 1:05note, not to a classmate, to himself. A
44. 1:07therapist had told him to write down
45. 1:08what he wanted to say before counseling
46. 1:10appointment so he wouldn't freeze up.
47. 1:11Vogel snatched it off his desk mid-class
48. 1:13and read the whole thing aloud. His
49. 1:14fears, his speech therapy, a line about
50. 1:16wishing he could disappear. Sam sat
51. 1:17there shaking while she finished with,
52. 1:19"Well, that was dramatic." He didn't
53. 1:20come to school for four days. Danny
54. 1:22didn't crack a single joke that week. He
55. 1:23just wrote. The first Friday of December
56. 1:25was district observation day.
57. 1:26Superintendent's office, two board
58. 1:28members, a row of parents in the back,
59. 1:30and our principal, Mr. Hayes, beaming
60. 1:31beside them because Vogel was his
61. 1:33showcase. She was in full performance
62. 1:34mode, warm and witty, calling on
63. 1:36students by name like she'd ever cared
64. 1:37to learn them. 20 minutes in, Danny did
65. 1:39the dumbest thing I'd ever seen. He tore
66. 1:41a page from the green notebook, folded
67. 1:42it, and passed it across the aisle,
68. 1:44slowly, obviously, practically holding
69. 1:46it up for her. The room went still. Even
70. 1:47with an audience, we knew she couldn't
71. 1:49resist the ritual. She didn't. She swept
72. 1:51over, plucked it up, and smiled at the
73. 1:52visitors. "In my classroom, we believe
74. 1:54passed notes deserve an audience. A
75. 1:56little lesson in consequences." She
76. 1:57unfolded it and began reading aloud.
77. 1:59September 12th, told Sam, quote, "Take
78. 2:00your time. We only have 50 minutes."
79. 2:02while the class laughed. September 19th,
80. 2:04held Priya's failed quiz above her head
81. 2:05for the room to see. October 3rd, read a
82. 2:07student's private note about her period
83. 2:08to the entire class. She stopped, but
84. 2:10the room had already heard her in her
85. 2:12own teaching voice performing a dated
86. 2:13log of everything she'd done. A board
87. 2:15member leaned forward. Please continue,
88. 2:17Ms. Vogel. Her hands were shaking. This
89. 2:18is This is a student's fabrication. Then
90. 2:20you won't mind if I read the rest, Mr.
91. 2:22Hayes said, and took the page. His face
92. 2:24changed as he scanned it. line he read
93. 2:26without thinking. If you're hearing this
94. 2:27on December 5th, ask the other students
95. 2:29for their copies. Chairs shifted. 14
96. 2:30kids reached into their backpacks and
97. 2:32pulled out photocopied pages. Danny's
98. 2:34log, plus their own signed accounts
99. 2:35stapled behind it. Weeks of them.
100. 2:36Priya's, Marco's, two from kids who'd
101. 2:38transferred out. Sam stood up last
102. 2:40holding the counselor complaint folder
103. 2:41his mom had photocopied and set it on
104. 2:43the superintendent's table without a
105. 2:44word. Vogel's voice cracked. This is a
106. 2:46childish prank. You cannot possibly take
107. 2:48a a clown seriously. Danny closed his
108. 2:50green notebook and smiled at her one
109. 2:51last time. Thanks for reading it out
110. 2:52loud, though. You always did have the
111. 2:54best delivery.