My 8th graders and I were taking a walking trip from the Salvation Army on the Upper West Side back to Harlem after dropping off some holiday donations. I had just moved into the neighborhood. We walked by a broken down couch sitting on the sidewalk, and one of my students cleverly joked that I might need the couch for my new apartment. I laughed and agreed that we should pick it up and carry it over to my new place.
When we get back to school awhile later, I sat with a group of 5 boys at lunch. One of them says, "Were you serious about that couch?" I responded, "Sure! Do you guys want to leave and go get it right now?" Another one says, "Are you gonna pay us?" I quickly retorted, "No, I'm gonna use you as slave labor."
Ok. So the words fell out of my mouth and I IMMEDIATELY regretted them. One millisecond later, I covered up my mouth and thought, "I'm gonna get fired." I looked around at the group of black and Latino boys sitting around me and there was a couple seconds of awkward silence where I just stared at them and thought, "OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT." One gave me a really stern look.... and then started to giggle. The other 4... didn't even understand how what I said was so offensive. I started to laugh, then QUICKLY changed the subject and prayed that the subject was NEVER DISCUSSED AGAIN.
Probably my worst failure ever.
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