Good Morning to You and You and You and You

I'm making good progress toward knowing all my students' names. Of course, it helps that some of them remember their name cards and, since I've assigned seats, that post-it note in the middle of each table is a great cheat, too.

Several years ago, I decided to commit to standing in the hallway as often as possible and greet as many kids as I could by name. A couple years ago, I invited my early-arriving homeroom students to join me and say good morning also. It was fun to greet everyone and we helped each other with the names that were unfamiliar. 

Today I finally had a chance to start that practice again for this year, and I laughed when a group of now seventh graders found their way back to assist me again. We stood in the hall like old times and said good morning to everyone, using as many names as we could. 

I've been around long enough to know that soon my former students will gravitate more toward their current teachers, which is as it should be, and our mornings together will become fewer and fewer. It makes me a little sad, but I intend to enjoy their company while I can, and I'm sure that there are new sixth graders who will be more than willing to take those spots.

It Tolls for Thee

"Is that the bell?" asked one of the new sixth graders when she heard a soft dinging in the middle of class.

"I think so?" I answered, "But to be honest I'm not sure, because that is not what the bells here have ever sounded like before. Plus, it's not the end of class."

"How long have you been here?" asked another student.

"Thirty years!" I told him, "and the bells have been the same for that entire time! Three nice and loud chimes. I don't know why anyone would want to change it to that little ping!" 

I laughed and stopped my rant so that we could get back to our activity. "Who else heard something interesting about another student in our meet and greet?" I inquired. 

"I found out that A's father went to this school!" reported a student.

"That's right!" I nodded. "He sure did!" 

"Were you here then?" the student continued.

"Yep," I sighed. "It was back when the bells rang the right way."

Not to Jinx Anything

So far, if there's anything notable about this new school year, it's that it hardly feels new at all. Summer break seemed awfully short, and when we returned, it was almost as if we had never left. My classroom came together quickly, and I resumed the old routines like slipping on a familiar pair of jeans. 

Even the new kids don't seem all that new. They've been back in school full-time and in person since 4th grade, and anecdotally, of course, (it has only been one day!) their grasp of appropriate school behavior and habits seems solid. The day passed quickly and smoothly, and I'm looking forward to a similar situation tomorrow.

Fingers crossed!

Association

While he was waiting to talk to another teacher about a new student, I roped a colleague into helping me with the mundane task of recording locker combos on index cards for my incoming homeroom. We sat companionably as he called out the lock number, I read the combination aloud from a spreadsheet and transferred it to a card, and then he slid the card onto the lock. 

"8-26-16," I said, writing it down. "Wait. Isn't your birthday coming?" I interrupted myself.

"Yeah it's Saturday," he answered. "Good memory."

"It was that combination," I told him. "8-26."

"Whoa!" he shook his head. "I feel like I just got a glimpse inside your brain. Does it really work that way?"

"Pretty much," I laughed, going on to the next combination.

A Timely Reminder

I was really happy to have so many of my former students stop by at the open house at school the other day. Not only was it wonderful to catch up with them and see how great they looked, taller and relaxed after a summer off, but it was also nice for the new students and their families to hear a kid's perspective on my class. Their commentary was funny and sweet, and it was gratifying to know how much they appreciated our year together, although there was also a tendency to exaggerate. 

"She has a magic portal in her desk," one boy assured the other visitors earnestly. "It produces an endless supply of Jolly Ranchers!" He looked at me. "Should we show them?"

"Nice try!" I laughed and thought of my empty bottom drawer; I hadn't had time to shop for my signature incentive. "I'm afraid the portal's closed until school starts next week," I explained, and then walked over to the to-do list on my desk and added Jolly Ranchers.

Fantastic Voyage

Back when I started teaching sixth grade in 1993, the science curriculum was organized around the PBS TV show The Voyage of the Mimi, a 13-episode series that showed the experiences of the crew of the fictional research ship The Mimi as they conducted a whale census.

Every unit, lesson, and activity was related to an episode of the show, the idea being to put the skills and knowledge into an engaging, real-world narrative context to make them both more accessible and more memorable. Even though science was not the subject I taught, I was a big fan of the approach. From what I could tell, the kids loved it and learned a lot, and I was sorry to see it retired after 15 years, around the turn of the century.

In 2006, we got a new social studies teacher for our interdisciplinary team, a young woman who had grown up in the district. She was in her mid-20s at the time and had experienced the Mimi curriculum as a sixth-grade student, and she was heartbroken when she found out that the show was no longer being used.

To be honest, her passion for the show was more than a little comical, and we spent many a lunch break reminiscing about the plot and the lessons, and the activities. It was she who told me that, in his first television role, Ben Affleck actually played the young boy, C.T. Granville. (Check out a clip here.)

That teacher has since moved on to another school, even though her daughter attends ours. I thought of her yesterday, though, when I tapped on the link to the daily Name Drop quiz from The New Yorker magazine. The premise is that you get six clues, one at a time, and 100 seconds to identify the subject of the day. The fewer clues you need, the better you do. I confess that I often find Name Drop very challenging-- sometimes I can't solve it at all-- but this week, I am on a roll. I've gotten the answer in one clue every day for the last three.

And for yesterday, I owe it all to my former colleague.

So I texted her to let her know, and she replied like this

Rumor Had It

 "I can't believe you're still here!" gushed a woman at our open house this morning. "This is my daughter," she put her arm around a new sixth grader. "And she was my teacher," she pointed at me.

"Well, basketball coach," I shrugged. "I taught your brother Brandon, though."

The older women with them turned to me with a sizing look. It was my former student's mother. "Girl!" she said. "You've been here a looooooong time." She shook her head. "How many years?"

"This is 31," I laughed.

"Time for you to retire!" she patted my shoulder.

"Maybe so," I agreed. 

"Didn't Mr. H retire?" she asked, mentioning the guy I coached with for many years.

"Two years ago," I nodded.

"I've got to ask you something," her voice dropped to a whisper. "But maybe not in front of the children." She looked around meanigfully.

My eyebrows shot up, but my curiosity got the better of me. "Okay?"

"Were you and Mr. H ever dating?" 

I laughed again. "Oh no!" I assured her. "We were just very good friends."

She gave me that look again, and walked away unconvinced.