Teachers at a Scottish high school have staged a flashdance in the middle of the canteen.
It was to say goodbye to students leaving Bell Baxter High School in Cupar, Fife.
At first Philip Black, the Rector (Headteacher), looks furious when the cheesy music starts blasting over the loudspeakers but then he strips off his jacket and does a routine with forty other members of staff.
Subsequent comments on YouTube about the performance describe the flashdancing rector as a ‘legend’. One says: ‘Mr Black you’re awesome!’ A surprised pupil at the school wrote: ‘Mr Black CAN dance!!! Go Mr Black hahahaha xx.’ Another says: ‘I loved every second. Great show from pupils and staff.’
Meanwhile an older spectator who watched the footage remarked: ‘Schooling has certainly changed since I was a lad.’ Mr Black is not the only member of staff coming in for praise – one fan declares on the website: ‘Mrs Livingstone lol, Legend.’
Mr Black said the dance – at lunchtime on Thursday – was a gift to this year’s school leavers, before they went on study leave on Friday. He said: ‘We are one of Scotland’s biggest schools, with 1,800 pupils, and we like to foster positive relationships with them.
Amen to that. After forty years of teaching I know one thing for sure. The most succesful teachers are those who set very clear boundaries but within those boundaries are not afraid to be at ease with their students.
As one veteran teacher said to me when I started my first job
Be firm with them and don’t stand any nonsense and they’ll do as you tell them. Be firm with them and don’t stand any nonsense but use your sense of humour to show your not a pompous asshole and they’ll do as you tell them without you having to tell them.
