TTT: The Announcements

Leah figured that getting on the morning announcements would be a great way to support her run for Top Turkey Teacher. PPHS had an excellent morning announcement program. It was filmed and uploaded to a Youtube channel. This gave students an excellent way to visualize the week ahead, know about events, give students a chance for silly sketches, and generally entertain the students. Many teachers loved the announcements because it was also about ten minutes or so to fill in a class period.

She waited until her planning period and headed toward Mr. Baker's classroom. The door was unlocked and she waltzed inside. But she locked the door on her way in. Just in case some busy body wanted to listen in. There was an over sized room with rows of computers then a larger portion of the room led to an area that was full of things that looked more akin to behind the stage props of a theater. The students were all out on filming errands around the school or it was Mr. Baker's planning period. Leah found Mr. Baker in the actual filming area colloquially called the "Cougar Din." He was pushing some furniture around.

The Cougar Din had the feel of a late night TV talk show with a desk for the speaker and a couch for the guests. But this is where they would have numerous sets. Mr. Baker had the largest non-gym room in the school. Plus he had an office inside there and a storage closet.

Mr. Baker turned when he saw Leah approaching.

"Hey Mr. Baker," Leah said with a smile "How are you?" she used her nicest teacher voice. Mr. Baker and her were not exactly close just due to his distance from her room and her curriculum so they didn't interact much. But he was friends with everyone and was generally a very nice and respected guy.

The mid to late 40s white man with short cut hair turning gray returned the smile and dropped some cords he had been rearranging.

"Doing alright. Just testing some stuff out. What brings you to the Cougar Din?" he chuckled.

"I had a question about the announcements."

"Shoot." he leaned his head to one side in amusement.

"I was hoping you could give me a shout out of sorts for the Top Turkey Teacher thing?" she asked moving a bit closer to him and giving her most disarming smile.

"I was told by Mr. Sharpe I shouldn't be helping any one teacher. Or else everyone would want to be on the announcements." he gave her a slight shrug of sympathy.

Leah knew that being on the morning announcements would be a boon--nearly every student saw the announcements. How could she convince Mr. Baker?