The Yeas Have it

We spent a good ten minutes this afternoon wrangling the teachers on our sixth grade team into a posed group photo for the school website, but when all was said and done, nobody really liked any of the pics.

"Hey!" said the social studies teacher, "weren't we all here last year?"

There were nods of agreement all around.

"How about we use the same picture?" she proposed.

Problem? Solved.

All's Well

I was busy over-seeing the students in my reading class following written directions to create name tags that communicated essential information about them using symbols when a semi-frantic knock came on the door.

"Have you seen Max?" asked the director counseling.

I nodded. Of course I had. He was one of my homeroom students, and I had met him just a half an hour earlier.

"Do you know where he went?" she asked.

I took a deep breath. The first day of middle school is especially hectic for sixth grade kids and teachers alike. We take special care to make sure that these students who are new to our school know where to go, but it's never a smooth transition that very first time. Teachers stand outside their doors guiding wayward children long after the bell rings. It's not until the hallway is clear that we even enter our rooms.

I looked over my own group of 22 students. I had called the roll and asked if there was anyone who hadn't heard his or her name, and I had even sent one kid next door. Still, I had absentees who may or may not have been at school, but I knew that eventually everyone would get straightened out. But Max was hard of hearing, and so there was a little more concern when he didn't make it to his first period class.

There wasn't much I could do to help, and so I returned to my own class. As students finished their name cards I circulated through, admiring them, and reading the names and the glyphs. "Oh Carolyn, I see your birthday is December 28 and your favorite subject is math! Kylie-- you have one older sibling and have lived in Virginia all your life! Max, you..."

Max! My eyes popped open wide.

"What?!" he asked, alarmed, and rightfully so, because he didn't know he was missing.

"You have an awesome name tag!" I assured him, and then stealthily flagged down an assistant and asked her to inform the counselor that our missing student had been found.

Betwixt and Between

As summer fades to fall my pantry is filled with the bounty of both seasons: apples and nectarines, tomatoes and butternut squash, and savory pumpkin muffins with summer peppers and basil.

The cook in me is inspired!

But the teacher in me goes back to work tomorrow.

On Your Mark

A little spray adhesive, some scrapbooking paper, a few alphabet stickers, and my writing notebook is good to go!










(In case you're wondering about the inside cover?)

Living on a Prayer

"I never did see that national parks IMAX movie," Heidi remarked as we walked home from the grocery store this afternoon.

"Let me see what time it plays," I said. "That might be a fun thing to do this weekend." By then we were nearly home. "Oh my gosh! There's a show in 20 minutes! We can make it if everything goes perfectly. Wanna try?"

"Sure!" she answered, and we threw the perishables in the fridge and raced to the car. Although the theater is less than five miles from our house as the crow flies, making it in time for the movie was not a sure thing by any means. To begin with, we had to cross at least one bridge and then find parking in downtown DC on a holiday weekend. Fortunately, though, Labor Day is a traditionally dead time in our nation's capital.

Despite a couple of jerks on the road and a few clueless pedestrians, I made it to the city in under ten minutes. Trolling Constitution Avenue for a spot near the Natural History Museum was unfruitful, though, and so I rounded the corner hoping for a spot right on the mall. Bazinga! Just a little down and across from the sculpture garden was a perfect space. In I pulled and we headed down the sidewalk, up the steps, through security, and into the great hall with three minutes to spare. There was only one person ahead of us in line.

And then it all fell to pieces.

One customer. One staffer. One hundred questions. Ten tickets. Ten minutes too late.

The American History Museum was awesome though! 

Safety First

I've spent a lot of time in my classroom this week, hanging posters, moving furniture, organizing and putting it all back together after packing it up in June. This is the start of my 23rd year teaching in that very room, and when I moved in there in August 1994, the building itself was celebrating its own 23rd year. I still have the same tables, chairs, and teacher's desk that I started with, and I know they were original to the building, which makes them 46 years old-- vintage, if not antique.

I thought about that today as I fulfilled one of the first week requirements for teachers in our district by watching a 13 minute video on safety. According to the recording, teachers number more than six million in the United States and make up the largest workforce in the nation. Unfortunately, we are also a workforce without any formal safety training, and as such, 300,000 teachers are injured on the job every year.

The number one cause? Slipping and falling at ground level, but close behind is falling off something else.

Like maybe 46 year old tables?

Unforgettable

"When were you in sixth grade?" I asked a former student who was all grown up and accompanying her younger sister to the open house this afternoon. "Was it 2005?"

She thought for a moment and then laughed. "No! It was 2004. Remember? My mom was in labor during our conference." She nodded her head toward her sister. "And look who showed up the next day!"