Chapter 1: The missing pencil (How to hook an audience instantly)
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Sitting at my desk in my fifth grade classroom, I have a boy named Travis next to me. He's receiving a private puberty lesson.
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7 seconds
He was absent yesterday, so I am currently telling him the nature of female menstruation.
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13 seconds
So he's basically having the worst day of his life at this moment.
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17 seconds
When I feel a tap on my shoulder, it's a boy named Eric, and he tells me, "Mr.
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21 seconds
Dix, Christian stole my rainbow pencil." And I'm just like, "No," like, "I can't do this anymore." I don't know
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31 seconds
if it's because I'd been teaching 15 years at that point, or it's May, and I've just had too much of these kids.
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37 seconds
I think what it really is, there's too much Christian and Eric energy in my life right now.
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42 seconds
These kids that I look at every day, 23 kids, they're supposed to take over the world someday.
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They're gonna lead the future, and I look at them and think, "We're in a lot of trouble." Like, I'm losing hope for all that is to come.
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56 seconds
And so Eric says, "I, I want my rainbow pencil." And I say, "You know what, Eric?
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1 minute
I'm not doing this today." And he says, "But I want my rainbow pencil." And I say, "I quit." And Aditi, a very bright young lady says, "I don't think you can quit.
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1 minute, 9 seconds
You have a contract." "I think you have to stay here till June." And I'm like, "I'm not quitting the profession. I'm just quitting rainbow pencil nonsense.
Chapter 2: Why I decided to "quit" my classroom (High-stakes storytelling)
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1 minute, 17 seconds
I'm not doing it anymore.
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1 minute, 18 seconds
I'm not gonna be your judge or your jury for any of this anymore." And Aditi says, "Who is?" So 15 minutes later, the votes have been tallied.
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1 minute, 28 seconds
"And Maya Flores is going to be the judge," I tell her, "in the case of the rainbow pencil." Now, it's a terrible decision on my part.
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1 minute, 38 seconds
Teachers should not create trials in their classroom to deal with behavioral situations.
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1 minute, 43 seconds
But I'm one of these guys that once you said it, you gotta do it, or they're gonna run right over you, so it's happening.
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1 minute, 48 seconds
Maya says, "I don't wanna be the judge." And I said, "That's exactly why you're gonna be the judge. We need more Maya Floreses in our life.
Chapter 3: Assembling the 5th-grade courtroom (Creating a narrative premise)
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1 minute, 54 seconds
We need people who don't want power to be in power.
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1 minute, 57 seconds
You're the one." So I tell Maya, "Go get your jury. Pick
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2 minutes, 5 seconds
anybody you want, but don't take Eric's friends or Christian's friends." Christian doesn't actually have any friends.
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2 minutes, 9 seconds
He's alienated everyone in the class this year. They all hate him.
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2 minutes, 12 seconds
But, "Go find impartial people as best you can." Christian says, "I need a lawyer." I'm like, "I agree. You need a lawyer. Pick whoever you want." He picks Aditi.
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2 minutes, 21 seconds
It's his best decision of the entire year.
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2 minutes, 24 seconds
So Eric says, "Don't I get a lawyer?" I said, "Pick anybody you want." He picks Chaunce Dunbar. Brilliant choice. This kid is savvy. He's good with the words.
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2 minutes, 33 seconds
Like, I would pick Chaunce Dunbar if I had a choice.
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2 minutes, 37 seconds
Some kid has taken a ruler and duct-taped it to a stapler for a gavel, so when Maya bangs on it, it shoots out staples and bangs at the same time.
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2 minutes, 46 seconds
So I've got a jury, and a judge, and defendant, and plaintiff, and lawyers.
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2 minutes, 50 seconds
I got six kids that are mad, though, 'cause they don't have a job.
Chapter 4: Swearing in on Green Eggs and Ham (Humor & pacing in a story)
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2 minutes, 53 seconds
So I make one a court reporter, and I'm gonna destroy all her notes when it's done, 'cause there can be no evidence of this atrocity that's about to take place.
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3 minutes, 1 second
I gotta make someone the sketch artist so that they can draw. I tell Travis, "You can be the bailiff.
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3 minutes, 6 seconds
You're just gonna stand there and do nothing." But he's not listening to his fifth grade teacher say the word tampon anymore, so he's thrilled.
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3 minutes, 12 seconds
His day has suddenly gotten a hell of a lot better. And then there's just this Penny girl. She's so cute, but there's nothing. I have no job for her.
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3 minutes, 19 seconds
I'm like, "Penny, I don't know what you can do." And she says, "How about I'm the investigator?" I say, "Great. This trial's gonna take like two minutes.
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3 minutes, 25 seconds
We're not gonna need an investigation, but you're the investigator." And she's thrilled, so off we go. Maya's taken Green Eggs and Ham.
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3 minutes, 31 seconds
That is the book that they're gonna put their hand on and swear to tell the truth.
Chapter 5: The cross-examination (Mastering the climax of a story)
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3 minutes, 35 seconds
Maya tells me it's the closest to a Bible in this classroom right now And so Eric takes the stand and Chance
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3 minutes, 42 seconds
comes up, and basically in five minutes he gets everyone to agree that, uh, Christian was closest to his desk when
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3 minutes, 50 seconds
the rainbow pencil disappeared, and he has a pattern of theft in our classroom.
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3 minutes, 54 seconds
He's basically stolen something from everyone. And I think he's dead. That's it. You did your job. Good job.
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4 minutes
So Aditi says, "Wait, can I ask a question?" I said, "Absolutely. Cross-examination.
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4 minutes, 3 seconds
Go right ahead." So Aditi says, "Eric, did you actually see Christian take your pencil?" And Eric says, "No."
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4 minutes, 11 seconds
And I feel like, ooh, like the tenor of the room has suddenly changed.
Chapter 6: The 9-second self-sabotage (Public speaking & audience retention)
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4 minutes, 16 seconds
So Eric leaves the stand and Christian comes up.
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4 minutes, 18 seconds
He swears on Green Eggs and Ham that he will tell the truth. And Aditi comes up, and a bold decision.
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4 minutes, 24 seconds
She says, "Stand up, Christian, and empty your pockets." So he does. There's no pencil.
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4 minutes, 30 seconds
Aditi says, "What about your desk?" Penny jumps up, "I'm the investigator.
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4 minutes, 33 seconds
I will check." So she runs over, she dumps his desk, she searches through it. No rainbow pencil.
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4 minutes, 38 seconds
She runs, without any instruction, to the locker, pulls it open and starts dumping it.
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4 minutes, 43 seconds
I'm watching the class, like all the jurors are taking notes.
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4 minutes, 46 seconds
None of these kids ever take notes, but now they're taking notes.
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4 minutes, 49 seconds
Like, Travis is standing still first time ever he's done this.
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4 minutes, 52 seconds
Like, it's questions, like they're all engaged, and I start to realize, like maybe the problem isn't, like, them. Maybe it's me.
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4 minutes, 59 seconds
Like, maybe I haven't li- made line plots engaging enough.
Chapter 7: Maya's final lesson (The 5-second moment of transformation)
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5 minutes, 2 seconds
Like, legitimately, maybe, like, they're so happy right now, maybe I just need to bring this to other things in a more appropriate way, right?
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5 minutes, 10 seconds
So we determined the rainbow pencil is nowhere to be found, and I'm thinking, Christian's gonna get off on this. I cannot believe it.
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5 minutes, 17 seconds
So Chance says, "I have a couple questions." And I'm like, "Go right ahead.
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5 minutes, 20 seconds
It's your turn." So he says, "Christian, you've taken something from everyone.
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5 minutes, 23 seconds
Do you really expect us to believe that you didn't take the rainbow pencil?" And Christian says, "I don't even think Eric had the rainbow pencil today." And Chance hears it.
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5 minutes, 33 seconds
Chance hears something that I don't hear and you didn't hear either.
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5 minutes, 36 seconds
He hears certainty, like unjustified certainty in Christian's voice.
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5 minutes, 43 seconds
So he says, "How do you know Eric didn't have the rainbow pencil today?" And Christian says, "When I opened
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5 minutes, 49 seconds
Eric's desk to steal his calculator- I did not see the rainbow pencil in the desk." The whole class goes quiet.
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6 minutes
It takes Christian nine seconds to figure out what has just happened, and we all know the moment 'cause his hands come to his mouth as if he can somehow grab those words and stuff them in.
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6 minutes, 10 seconds
And that is the picture that the court sketch artist draws of Christian. A picture I still have to this day.
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6 minutes, 20 seconds
It's chaos for a little while. Maya's banging the stapler. Staplers are flying everywhere.
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6 minutes, 25 seconds
And the jury deliberates instantly, and they determine that Christian is guilty of attempted stealing of a calculator from Eric.
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6 minutes, 33 seconds
And I say to Maya, "It's your job now to punish him.
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6 minutes, 36 seconds
You choose what the punishment is." And she says, "I need some time to think." So we're halfway into a line plot lesson that I'm trying to make more engaging
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6 minutes, 45 seconds
than I ever thought possible when Maya raises her hand and says, "I know what to do." So the class throws the whole courtroom back together 'cause they want, like, this to end the right way.
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6 minutes, 55 seconds
So the jury takes their spots, and Travis stands up against the wall. Everyone's back where they need to be.
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7 minutes, 1 second
And Maya's sitting in the front with her gavel, which is a stapler.
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7 minutes, 5 seconds
And I say, "All right, Maya, what's the punishment?" And she says, "Mr.
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7 minutes, 9 seconds
Dix, I think that this was punishment enough." She says, "I don't think that
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7 minutes, 18 seconds
Christian should've been put on trial in front of us, and so I think we've punished him enough." And every head in that room nods in agreement with Maya Flores that day.
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7 minutes, 31 seconds
But what Maya's really telling me is, "Mr.
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7 minutes, 34 seconds
Dix, you don't get to quit when things aren't making you happy, and you don't
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7 minutes, 41 seconds
get to put us in this position to do this thing to this boy on this day, as much as he really deserved it." Maya's
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7 minutes, 50 seconds
telling me that teachers don't get to say, "It's your problem, it's not mine."
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7 minutes, 58 seconds
And I'm looking at 23 kids now, who about an hour ago I wondered if they could ever lead us into the future.
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8 minutes, 7 seconds
And I'm looking at Maya Flores, and Eric Woods, and Christian Paredes, and Aditya Nam, and Chaunce Dunbar, Travis Workman,
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8 minutes, 17 seconds
and all those kids, kids I taught 10 years ago who I remember like it was yesterday.
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8 minutes, 23 seconds
I look at them and I think, "They are ready right now, better than I am, to take on the future, and I cannot wait to see what these kids do." Thank you.