Ah yes, the most dreaded and beloved day of the year is here, the first day of school. While I'm aware that some schools haven't started or started a while ago, I consider this the first week of school, purely because that's what I see all over Facebook. Now it is no secret that I was not a big fan of school, to this day I'm not actually, but I've been thinking more and more recently, what would I do differently if I were working at a school, i.e. a teacher.

First thing I would do as a teacher: make cell phone use allowed in my classroom. Text your friends, go on Facebook, do whatever you want. HOWEVER, I would implement the scholar athlete rule which states anyone whose grade average drops under C+ cannot compete. Therefore in my classroom, any student whose grade drops below C+ loses phone privileges.

Second: Homework is either extra credit or what they don't finish in class. My school had 8 classes, each one giving out their own homework assignments, essays, pages of math homework, science worksheets, etc. It was nerve wrecking trying to remember what class needed what done, remembering how to do everything we learned in school, i'd be burnt out and exhausted. That is not the way a 15 year old should feel about learning. The only homework assignments my students would get would be if I felt like they needed help in the class to understand the material.

Finally: allow the use of headphones during tests. I couldn't tell you how much I hate silence. So me in a classroom surrounded by people who I did not like while we all had our heads hunkered down writing out answers was the worst. I would allow my students to play music off their phone, listen to the radio, listen to music, whatever it is. Now i'm aware students are able to record their voices to get answers, but teenagers aren't that slick, the ones cheating are always obvious. But what if someone cheats and isn't obvious? What would I do then? Well i'd recommend a career as a politician.

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