I Don't Want to Go to Jail

As a teacher, I wouldn't say I really have legal concerns. I don't plan on being one of those teachers featured on news because of innapropriate activities with a student. However, I am sometimes worried that something I say will be miscontrued and will be taken the wrong way. Many times I think before I speak, and even though I may be joking, sometimes others do not take my comments lightly. I am a very sarcastic person and many times when a student asks a dumb question I will respond with a sarcastic response. Contrary to popular belief, there are dumb questions. For example, recently I had a student ask me if they needed to put their name on their assignment. I responded with "no I will look back at my old papers and analyze the handwrting to determine whose paper it is". Even though I didn't intentionally mean any harm, it could have hurt the student's feelings. I'm not sure what legal recourse could be taken simply because I make a smart remark, however, these days I'm sure someone could find a law I broke or student's civil right that I violated.