Day 244 – Teaching

Again, I have to thank people for their comments on my HNT picture!  And thanks to Vixen and Sage for highlighting me on their HNT spotlights! 

For those new readers, I should explain briefly that I post a new picture each day.  It’s part of a project called the 365 day project – where you take photographs every day. I have so far succeeded in doing it every day.  I did miss one day so far.  Day 99, I believe. 

I spent the day up in Garbanzo’s classroom helping him get ready.  Usually, I do more.  This year, I spent the time cleaning out his closet.  A huge closet that has been dubbed “The Bat Cave”…..it should be called the Mouse Cave, but I’m not talking about mice for a while.

When we arrived, no one was at school.  It was locked.  While Garbanzo tried frantically to reach the principal, I found these:

We finally got into the school, and I started tackling the closet.  If you follow me on Twitter, you would have seen some of what I found – like a dozen boxes of unopened Kleenex or the huge pile of loose leaf paper.  I also found stuff that people had clearly tried to hide in his closet – stuff that was definitely not his.  He has never taught 1st grade at this school, so how new 1st grade curriculum stuff ended up there is beyond me.

I also found important stuff like the Bathroom passes:

Yes, they are real bowling pins.  He had issues with the kids destroying his other pass choices in the past.  So, he bought these.  His claim is it was either this or cinder blocks.  These have lasted 3 years versus the 3 months of previous ones.  I love how the kids colored in the boys’ pin pink and light blue and purple while the girls’ pin is red and blue.  Love the reversal there!

As I do each year Garbanzo moves into a room, I painted it.  Most of the rooms are still the 1970s harvest yellow.  Last year, I painted his room blue and white – and added words of wisdom above where the kids kept their stuff. I found out that they are going to yank out all of that shelving and stuff when they install the lockers.  My words will be gone.  Garbanzo and the rest of the staff wants me to paint them somewhere else.  Let’s just say I got really creative with some of them.  I doubt the kids truly understand why the adults are chuckling when they read them.

“Be a leader” was my dad’s phrase when we were growing up.  If we were trying to leave and everyone was dragging their feet, he would look at one of us and say “Be a leader” and shove us out the door in hopes the others would follow.  Kind of profound how none of us kids have any problem leading now. My SGT of a father did a good job putting a boot up our asses to make us lead, I guess.

Garbanzo took me to lunch at about 2pm when he realized it was lunch time.  I was still in the closet thanking God I got cell coverage so I could at least text people for entertainment. On the way, we saw this:

I guess the boat didn’t want to stop.

At the end, we left the classroom more or less, ready to go.  Garbanzo was freaking out as I expected.  I learned how awkward it could be sending naughty messages to someone as the principal starts talking to me about technology.  I got to play with the principal’s pug puppy who found me in the closet when she made her escape from the principal and his kids. 

I also had an interesting interaction with a teacher who I have always hated since I first met her the first year she taught 4/5 with Garbanzo.  What a bitch is all I have to say.  I thought the sentiments were my own until the principal made a comment to me as we were walking out.  Her comment pissed him off as well.  All I could think of was “you get what you give” to her comment about parents being so petty that they will pull kids from her class.  Part of me wanted to say, “well, I wouldn’t let my kid be in your class because you are a pain in the ass for parents and staff and I didn’t have the energy to deal with you.”  But, I refrained.  After hearing what the principal said as he and I left, I should have said it.  There are a lot of reasons to hate public education – just ask Garbanzo – but this shit will always keep me thanking God I never chose teaching as profession.  It is worse than work environments, I swear.


In the end, his classroom was ready.  Chairs and desks waiting for hormonal 6,7, and 8th graders to come in and defile it with their graffiti, trash and just general mess that will surely accompany them.  Garbanzo’s desk actually clean for the first and last time of the year.  Maybe I should take pictures of its progress.  It was time to leave and start our weekend.

Have a great Saturday!

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