I’m behind a few posts, and at some point, I’m going to have to have a good writing day to catch up.
Or, I could just quit.
Even thinking that last thought reminds me of Mrs. Bearden, my 3rd grade teacher.
A short lady (almost five feet), who wore horn-rimmed glasses, and had all-white hair (not a strand of silver), she was the prototypical private-school teacher.
If you did something you weren’t supposed to do, she’d make stand at a chalkboard and write lines (“I will not talk in class”) just like Bart does at the beginning of each Simpson’s episode.
She used to make us do “silly” things such as participate in the school Christmas play, or napkin crochet. She’s also the reason I learned to play violin.
One of my favorite things about Mrs. Bearden is that every day after recess, all the kids would come in rowdy, and she’d have us sit down while she read a story. I still remember some of those stories til this day!
Then, there’s the thing I didn’t like about Mrs. Bearden when I was her student, but appreciate now as an adult.
She used to make us do “ketchup work”. It was actually “Catch up” work, but we just called it “ketchup”.
Here’s how “ketchup work” worked.
Each student had an “assignment mailbox”. It’s where all your assignments placed. Let’s say you had five homework assignments in a week, and you neglected to turn in all but one. A neat little note was placed in your mailbox stating that you owed Mrs. Bearden one assignment.
Now, let’s say the next week, you neglected to turn in three assignments. At the end of the week, you would have three IOHs plus the one from the week prior.
Collect too many notes, and you have to stay in from recess to do ketchup work.
In Mrs. Bearden’s class, skipping homework was not an option. To her, it was less about earning a grade, and more about whether you’d follow-through or not.
Today, most engineers call “ketchup work” technical debt.
Thanks Mrs. Bearden.