Ahh, the beauty of the phone call home.

While phone calls to my own home (or that of my parents) are indeed beautiful, I'm referring to the calls I make to students' homes. Generally it's quite unpleasant for everyone involved. Parents are upset, students are upset, I feel like I have to justify bothering someone at home, and sometimes, when the kid is there too, I get to hear the parent yell at the kid. That's not awkward. Last week one of my students reminded me of the beauty associated with calling home. He's usually kind of a problem in my class. Just the talking problem, not so much the throwing things or cursing me out problem. But one day last week he did extremely well, he was the only one in the class to get 100% on the quiz. He asked me if I would call his house and tell his mother how well he did. I don't think to make that call very often so I agreed. His mother, upon answering my call, braced herself for the worst. She was actually shocked at the news that her son was doing well. He came to school the next day thrilled and ready to keep behaving. He brought it up again today and his noisy friends all wanted in on the action. I had 4 of my most obnoxious students behaving beautifully today so I would call their parents and tell them about it. I'm willing to spend all of my free time calling home if it means I get that kind of response every day. One student, whose mother I've been trying to reach for several days, was among those who wanted a call. Guess who blindly handed over a cell phone number? He doesn't yet realize that phone numbers can be used for good and evil.