Prisoners of ...

So, the most hillarious/embarrassing thing happened today at school. Our school put together a Veteran's Day program and invited all the veterans from the community to attend and be honored. Some of our students would be reading essays they wrote or performing patriotic numbers. I wanted to make sure my students would be on their best behavior in the program and show appropriate respect for the veterans. We had talked for about 20 minutes in class about what veterans are, and why we respect them, I explained to them that even though we do the Pledge of Allegience every morning, we would be doing it again when the flag was posted. I wanted to cover all my bases so that they understood what was going on and nothing embarrassing or "attention-getting" would happen during the program. We practiced our behavior and how we should sit and pay attention to the speakers, etc. I felt comfortable that we were good-to-go. Right after our discussion we filed into the gym past all the veterans young and old in their uniforms and sat down on the floor toward the front of the gym near the stage. Our principal introduced the program and then the beautiful music of the various armed forces played as a representative from each group of the military proudly carried a flag to the front and posted it. Along with the rest of the audience my sweet class stood at attention and I was as proud as a mama hen as they stood their with their hands over their hearts and gave their full attention and respect for the flags and veterans, then sat quietly down on the floor and folded their arms. During the time that the various flags were being carried up, I noticed a gentleman I know carrying a flag at the end that I have never noticed before. I was a black and white POW flag. I was caught up in thought because I didn't know this man had been a prisoner of war and I was thinking that I'll have to ask his daughter (a friend of mine) about it. I came out of my thoughts as the music ended and the audience sat down. Of course, I noticed how perfectly my students sat down without incident and was sure that others noticed their good behavior also. They were silent while we had a moment of silence for our fallen soldiers, they were attentive during the speeches, they were in fact-perfect. Soon the principal stood up to the microphone and said, "Could we have everyone who has been a POW stand up, please." Well....as if it was rehearsed, my entire class stood up! I don't know if any real POWs stood up, because everyone was looking at my class. Well, because of their "good" example the class behind us started to stand up. That class's teacher and I both jumped up and tried to quietly get all the kids to sit down. There were plently of chuckles in the audience and my face was beat red. I just looked at the teachers next to me and said, "Wow, I thought they liked school, but I guess they feel like I'm holding them prisoner." The program continued without further incident and school was out shortly after. As soon as the kids left I penciled in my plan book-"First thing tomorrow discuss the differences between a student and a prisoner of war." Apparently for some it's a gray area.