'Naughty' or nice': Effort to rein in students before Christmas a hit on social media

Alexandria Simmons, a second-grade teacher at Liberty-Eylau Elementary, stands with Superintendent Ronnie Thompson the week before Christmas wearing Santa Cams she created for teachers at the school. She said the ornaments motivated students to behave. A video she created of the experience is getting thousands of views across the country.
Alexandria Simmons, a second-grade teacher at Liberty-Eylau Elementary, stands with Superintendent Ronnie Thompson the week before Christmas wearing Santa Cams she created for teachers at the school. She said the ornaments motivated students to behave. A video she created of the experience is getting thousands of views across the country.

A local teacher found a creative way to keep students in line the week before Christmas with a little help from the Big Guy himself.

Alexandria Simmons, who teaches second-grade at Liberty-Eylau Elementary, created Santa Cams for all nine teachers in her grade to control the holiday chaos in their classrooms. She also recorded a SnapChat video about the experience, which has gained popularity on Facebook.

"I actually discovered the idea through Pinterest," she said. "The reason behind using the Santa Cams was to give students another incentive to act properly and obey our classroom rules. This is my first year teaching, and I learned very quickly second-graders will only do so much for a piece of candy."

She bought a box of shiny red ornaments and painted a black camera on the front with a black marker. Santa Cam was also written on each ornament, which is worn around the neck. She then distributed them to the teachers Dec. 18 and that's when she says the holiday magic began.

In the video, Simmons said she had a student report to the camera four times before 10 a.m. She told him to tell Santa what just happened in the classroom, and he, along with other students, would give a confession as Simmons instructed the camera to zoom in.

"I've never had anything in my life work as well as this is working today," she said on the video.

Simmons said she makes videos all the time and shares them with her friends, but that she definitely did not intend to get so much attention for her Christmas creation.

"I thought it was kind of funny and put it on thinking it was one of my funnier Snap blogs," she said. "I didn't put it up to persuade teachers to get a Santa Cam. I put it on Facebook for friends who weren't on SnapChat. Day by day, I wake up to more and more notifications on someone has liked your post, someone has shared it. I just thought it was kind of funny the way my students reacted to it."

As of Dec. 23, it's been shared many times in the Dallas, San Antonio and Houston areas, with additional shares in Ohio and Florida.

Simmons said there were a few students who questioned whether the Santa Cams were real, because someone told them Santa wasn't real. Other tech-savvy kiddos questioned the artwork, noticing it was paint instead of a real camera.

"Overall as a collective group, it was amazing," she said. "It worked well as an incentive for our classes to be on their best behavior."

Physical education instructor Britney Redfearn even borrowed Simmons' Santa Cam for a few hours to incentivize a group of students in the gym.

She said she'll create the ornamental motivators again next year and maybe make them look a little more high-tech.

In doing the project, Simmons may have given her students' parents a Christmas gift, as well.

"I'm hoping they will be able to take the positive behavior they were showing me in the classroom and take that home with them on the evenings and the weekend," she said. "Then display good behavior and act like they were taught to do even without the Santa Cam being present."

 

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