Episode #1 Cupcakes & Teacher Contracts

I share with you my first experience about my no cupcake rule in my classroom. I was surprised, that I didn't have an angry bird cupcake thrown at my face. Listen how I kept to my convictions in maintaining a positive and inclusive classroom ritual that has no sugar, and tons of fun. If you need a good laugh today, I've got you covered. 


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Transcript

Hey educators is Jebeh Edmunds here and I just wanted to share with you one of my favorite rituals that I do in my classroom. It's birthdays, and everybody loves birthdays, especially my student, they love to be celebrated on their special day. In my classroom management handbook that I send to my parents, I give the expectations of what to expect when it comes to birthdays. Yep, I'm a mom of two busy boys. And I get it when students want to share their birthday with a treat. And I've got a story for you that I will never forget. For my classroom management plan. I always let my parents know right up front what my expectations are for the school year, from assignments to getting in touch with me during the school day, and even birthdays, yes, birthdays. Now my colleagues always give me a hard time and a good way. Because they know there's a no cupcake rule in my classroom. And why am I add Oh, Jebeh it's their birthday, don't you want to celebrate them and have them have a sweet treat just a little bit. Listen, I love myself some good buttercream. And I love cake as the best of them. Even my husband got me a cake that literally was the size of his truck that I love cake. But to me as an educator, cake kingo I wanted to promote something that is healthy and fun and active for all of my students. Let me give you an example. My first year of teaching, I always had this conviction of knowing that with food allergies, food sensitivities on the rise, when I was becoming an educator and graduating with my masters of Ed, I thought to myself, my ideal classroom is going to be exclusive for all of my kids. So I decided to get rid of the birthday cake rule. I didn't say we weren't going to celebrate their children in my classroom. Oh, we're gonna celebrate. But we don't need sugar to celebrate them for that day. Think of this as an educator, especially when I first started teaching six and seven year olds, when I taught first grade, parents will go down the hallway with their big sheet cake and my colleagues classrooms, bring a knife. So that teacher ended up cutting up all the pieces of the cake for the student and the parent leaves. And they'd show up at like 830 in the morning. So get the kid shook it up, say bye. And go. And then that teacher has to deal with the sugar crash before lunch. And as a teacher myself thinking about this and visualizing. Oh my goodness. I'm not a teacher. Now. I'm like a Chucky cheese, and I did not want any part of it. With the rise of food allergies and food sensitivities. Can I imagine myself cutting a piece of cake for one child and tell the other one? Oh, no, because you can't have it you don't get Have you want Do you really want to see a six year old kid grab, do that to them. So I decided I'm gonna do a fun little Liberian birthday dance. It's not patented. It can be any song you want. But what I decided to do for all of my students, when I first started teaching was a birthday song. Now my favorite birthday song that I've used and I don't have any rights to it, but it is Prince Nico marva Happy birthday. And that is a title of the dance that we dance to. And it can be fun and festive. And I tell you my students loved it every single year is when are we doing the birthday dance, Mrs. Edmonds, and that's what I wanted to instill in my students. I let me tell you, when I implemented my no cupcake rule, I gotta tell you, one,
I was the only black teacher in that building, too. It was my first year teaching in the classroom with my own group of ducklings. And three, that mama came up with her Angry Birds cupcakes. And I looked her in the eye and said, No, cupcakes are not allowed in this classroom. Once she got mad, she was furious. You're telling me my child can't have cupcakes. It's his birthday. And I looked at her and I said, Yes, ma'am. He can have cupcakes at home. And you did sign my parent handbook saying that you read my expectation was no cupcakes and that your child will still be celebrated, but just in a different way. She huffed and puffed went right to the principal's office. And I ended up with a copy of her signed expectations that I told her that was You said you read it, you signed it. And now, cupcakes on you. And I marched back in there. And I tell you, butterflies in my stomach. I am not confrontational at all. Her little boy was none the wiser. We played our music, we started doing our wash the windows, hey, and we slept that floor. And we broke our back and then break it. Oh, we did that we did the shaky, shaky. And then we went back to do our adult words. And that, to me, add to show that yes, as an educator, if you have your expectations in your classroom management plan in the beginning of the year, first year, teacher, veteran teacher, trust and believe, when you have things like this in place, you need to be consistent, and you need to follow through. And she saw her contract that she signed, she saw her signature. And she left that day with those Angry Birds cupcakes, and didn't look back. That was my first year teaching. But I guarantee you every single year that I have that no cupcake rule, there's always one parent, and my colleagues and principals and I just laugh, because Jebeh has copies Jebeh has proof that you signed it, you knew the rules, and you still thought you could sneak one pastor. And so to me, teachers and educators, whatever you decide, do it. And you know what I know for a fact, there were parents that probably told my principals, we don't want to be in her class because she's got a cupcake embargo. And you know what, I feel sorry for your kids. Because if that was your only thing you didn't want to have me in? Well, they missed out on a lot. And you know what, go with grace. That's all I have to say on that piece. But I will never forget my first year teaching my little firsties that year. And she came in angrier than those Angry Bird rings on those cupcakes. But I stuck to my guns. I knew what I was doing. Because first and foremost, I wanted an inclusive classroom community that didn't have to worry about their own dietary restrictions or sensitivities to make themselves feel othered. Because of what the norm was, it's time to change the norm people. And we can do it. When my principles in my building knew my expectations from the jump. They were there to support me as the educator. And I even made a little quip cupcakes are in my teacher contract. So I don't need to have cupcakes in my classroom. And you can hem and haw all you want. But trust me, my students are happy, they're engaged, they are getting recognized. I've taught in buildings where the poverty rate is over 85%, I cannot tell you how many times families come to me and say, Thank you Jebeh. I can't afford getting cupcakes for 22 kids in this class. That's one less thing I need to worry about. of all the stuff I need to deal with.
Things like that, when you are an educator, you cannot have that assumption that Oh, because I'm in where I'm at, as an educator, not all of my students, families are in that same boat. Not all of my students, families are thinking, Oh, my son's birthday is coming up, I have to deal and get my son or my daughter's birthday set up for my family in any way that I see that is okay. But then I also have to do the same expectations at school. That is really something that is very sensitive. And when you feel like as a parent that you can't provide for your child, and you're barely making it at home, then you have that extra stress on top for school and alleviates that pressure. So as an educator first, I implore you to think about how you do celebrations in your classroom. Also keep in mind, families come from different religious backgrounds, families probably don't celebrate their birthday. So you also need to be sensitive to the fact and asking your parents how would you feel if we celebrated your child in a way that is appropriate for your family? Because the last thing as educators want to do is we always have our good intentions. But we do seem to trip over that as well. When you move forward, especially in a time like this is you can still celebrate your students in a way that is fun, engaging you can do dances that are different genres. It doesn't have to be an African song, but I want you to think outside of the box for once and leave the treats at home. I'm Jebeh Edmunds. If you'd like to know more tips and tricks, stick on my YouTube channel and follow me on Jebeh edmunds.com