About "Heads down! Voices off!"

You may or may not have noticed that the title of my blog is Heads Down Voices Off. This post is for anyone wondering where it came from.

Well, its actually a phrase I've heard said by multiple teachers. Most of the time, this is said when the class gets too loud or out of control. I think it was my first year at traditional public school when I first head this phrase. I don't remember what class I was in, but there was a substitute teacher, so naturally, none of the students were doing what they were supposed to be doing. It got to a point where everyone was talking very loudly, and/or out of their seats and moving around the room, when suddenly the teacher yelled "HEADS DOWN!!! VOICES OFF!!!"

Being in my first year ever of traditional public school, I had never heard this phrase before. So at first, I wasn't sure what the teacher meant for us to do. But as I looked around the room, I saw that everyone had returned to their seats, and were now sitting with their arms folded on the table, and heads buried in their arms. The room fell silent.

My curiosity kept me up and staring at what the other students were doing, but the teacher eventually commanded me to follow suit. "I said put your head down on the table!"

When I first decided to start this blog, I spent a long time trying to figure out a cute title. I began to think about experiences I had in school, which made me start to remember all of the bizarre and alien things that I saw happen within the institution. The first time I heard "Heads down! Voices off!", and saw what everyone did, I thought of it as one of the most bizarre and humorous occurrences I had ever witnessed. It is an occurrence so unique in fact, that I believe it probably doesn't happen in any other environment except for traditional public school.
.... well, except maybe prison.