The Grateful Dead

The lights buzz overhead, and I hear the sound of Charles vacuuming the room next door. I know there are a kids roaming the halls, but they are mostly at the other end of the school near the gymnasium. Thanksgiving break has begun, and, boy, am I glad. This first semester of teaching has been good, but I definitely feel the need to recharge a little bit before I'll be ready to tackle the second. However, that is not the only thing I am grateful for. As much as vacation delights me, I can look around the classroom and find so many reasons to be grateful to be here. Here are four miscellaneous things about Room 306 that make me happy:

1. The white board at the front of the room started out as the "Grateful" board and ended up as "The Grateful Dead" board. Additionally, the students are grateful for among other things Morgan Freeman, Christmas trees, chocolate chips, cars that don't break down, and "Ms. V's outfit advice" (which mostly consists of taking girls aside and informing them that nylons do not constitute pants....).

2. Ms. V's calendar. I share a room, and I really respect and love my roomy. One thing that she has up by her desk is a calendar that has a whole bunch of nature facts on it. I understand that it is simply trying to tell general time frames, but who can resist laughing when it lists "Woodchucks (groundhogs) are asleep in underground nests" on November 4. They don't sleep any other day? And so you know, the milkweed pods open on the 30th.

3. The sticky note on the closet that says "Narnia." In our classroom, there is a door at the back of the room. "Where does that go?" the students ask at the beginning of the year. Well, technically it simply is a closet with some volleyball equipment, Spanish stuff, and the English multimedia equipment. Apparently someone else decided it was Narnia. I like to think of it as being like Superman's phone booth. Non-descript teachers enter, but athletic super-humans emerge! Alright, I exaggerate, but it frequently does get used as a dressing room.

4. The essential question poster with the misspelling. At the beginning of the year, I quickly made a set of posters for our classroom listing the sophomore history and English "essential questions." They are "How and why do communities form?"; "What is power, and how does it manifest itself in a community?"; and "How is manipulation and persuasion an aspect of power?" Well, that is what they are supposed to say. Just two days ago I noticed that I had misspelled "persuasion." So far, I'm the only one that I know has noticed it, which makes me laugh.

Well, vacation has officially started, and I'm done ruminating. It's time to pack up and head home. I'll be especially grateful if I don't run out of gas...