By RAUL MEDRANO – Guest Writer
Curriculum Assistance Department teachers Dr. Michele Birch and Tiffani Knight ask thought-provoking questions during first lunch.
Wait? What!? Oh, I get it!
These are a few reactions heard within the halls, cafeteria and classrooms at Clarke Central High School in response to Curriculum Assistance Program department teachers Dr. Michele Burch and Tiffani Knight’s twist on lunch duty.
Photos by Paola Hilario
Every other week, Burch and Knight are assigned first lunch duty, during which they patrol the hall outside of the Miller W. Jordan, Jr. Food Court. They frequently interact with students who enter and exit by presenting a question of the day on written on a small white board.
“For some reason we thought it would be kind of fun to bring some kind of prop,” Burch said. “First we had a clock and (that) was our official time keeper instead of yelling at people, ‘Hey, it’s not 12:36. Then we thought we needed a sign that says, ‘Halt, go back!’”
The white board has evolved since its original commands and now states humorous questions to boggle the mind of students who pass.
“Its pure self-entertainment for our duty that (we) have to do for thirty minutes on Week B,” Burch said. “Normally someone might be sitting there on their laptops and emailing, but we’re completely interactive with the kids and the way it’s taken off has been phenomenal.”
The questions have become popular amongst students and faculty and are a recognizable part of first lunch.
“I think it’s very interactive and funny to me,” freshman Aramis Ferrer said. “I think it’s kind of like a stress reliever from the first two classes of the day.”
As a reward for students who answer their questions, Burch and Knight pass out stickers they design themselves. The duo has received a positive response to their inclusion of custom stickers as well.
“We started out with idea of making personalized stickers that would go along with the questions and (the students) love it,” Burch said. “Kids are collecting it on their agenda books, it’s so much fun.”
During week A, when they are not on lunch duty, Knight and Burch think of new questions for students to answer.
“We sit down and brainstorm, and try to make (the questions) funny and easy because we kind of see what students like based on how many stickers we have left at the end,” Knight said.
Burch and Knight’s lunch duty is no longer something they loathe, but is now something they look forward to during the week.
“This is like that little piece of the day that we look forward to. I will guarantee no one has ever looked forward to doing lunch duty before. We have turned it into something really fun,” Burch said.
