Delights: August 18 to August 24

August 18: My 4^th grade classroom is now decorated with every possible bright thing I could find in my attic (and a large number of illustrated Virginia history books). Plants that were squeezed into household corners now spread wildly in front of classroom windows. I’ve even sprinkled a few Washington Nationals bobbleheads here and there, to nod with encouragement. And I needed it, for today was Meet the Teacher Day.

With the confidence of a Gilded Age grande dame, I threw open the classroom door to more than 45 parents, students and family who streamed into the classroom to check me out.

Earlier in the day, I had asked my mentor for advice. Just treat it like a cocktail party, she said. Greet, mingle, be enthusiastic. 

And she might have added: accept hugs from neighborhood children; share memories with a big brother who recalled one my earliest substitute gigs (“you taught us how to say underwear in Latin”); accept a gift of macarons from a kind parent; and — most important — remember why I said yes to this crazy idea. The kids are great. The parents are welcoming. And I’ll take things one day at a time.

I think I can do this.

Bonus: A big thank you to everyone who sent me good wishes for this enterprise. Your kindness billowed my sails. 

August 19: Work. The classroom looks pretty good!

August 20: More work. But just half a day. On my patio. With a lovely breeze.

August 21: If you saw the movie Barbie, you might recall the scene when Ken attempts to land the job of “beach.” I thought of that today as I tried to do “classroom” on this, our First Day of School.

In Barbie, Ken just smiled, shrugged and wanted the job anyway despite having neither the interest nor the aptitude to do the hard stuff that being a lifeguard entails.

That’s me. I want to do “classroom”:  delivering a professional’s lesson plan for curious children while weaving in fun facts about urban sanitation, American history, or baseball. And then I want to end my work day when the last child leaves.

Unlike Ken, however, I recoiled today at the rest of it: daily lesson plans, daily (!) PowerPoint slides, daily “run of show” sequences to organize a seven-hour day, daily meetings, and weekly emails to the parents (never mind all the complexity of engaging and educating the kids). Oh, yeah, and 11-hour days, weekend work, and multitasking while watching evening TV.

To the teachers out there, I salute you. I thought I understood the skills, commitment, resilience and fortitude required for your job. I didn’t. 

Like Ken, today I really, really only want to do “beach.”

August 22: Ignore yesterday’s 2 a.m. hyperventilation from a tired, nervous apprentice teacher. 

Today was pretty darn good. First, my classroom’s lead teacher is wonderful; I’m learning constantly. Second, our class received a high compliment from another teacher for their curiosity, kindness and respect. 

And third, to illustrate principles of “risk taking” (in a learner’s context), I told a story about President James Garfield and a banana, which I’d stumbled upon in Sunday’s newspaper. To my delight and astonishment, the kids were totally into it, as we examined the different ways President Garfield could have reacted upon seeing a “strange, curved, yellow fruit” being sold by a fruit vendor in New York City. 

“If you were from Ohio and had only eaten locally grown food, what would you do if you saw that strange new thing?” The students were baffled by the question. “Ask what it is, of course,” they said. (And eat it, some added.) 

“If you were the fruit vendor and this stranger asked what you thought was a silly question, how would you respond?” The students sketched scenarios. When I told the students that the fruit vendor had sneered, they seemed genuinely shocked. “But asking questions helps us learn!” they emphasized. 

Well done, dear students. I believe we are ready for Day Three — and for bunches, bushels and baskets of engaging 4th grade content. 

August 24: With the blessing of the lead teacher, I decided we needed student-led teams to help organize the classroom. (The idea occurred to me last week as I shoveled books willy-nilly onto empty book shelves and ignored way too many empty walls.) 

To my astonishment, the students responded with energy (and lots of noise). They sorted themselves into a “party” team to celebrate birthdays, a “beautification” team to fill the forlorn spaces, a “supplies” team to oversee our infrastructure, a “library” team to organize and promote our books, and a “news” team to publish a periodic newsletter.

We’ve only just begun, but I’m happy to report that the library team is creating book bins for historical fiction, fantasy and “oh, just regular fiction,” among other genre. The beautification team plans to hoist garlands of paper chains the students assembled today as part of a math/engineering exercise. The supplies team sharpened scores of pencils. And the news team has already started interviewing their classmates and planning articles. “We’ll start slow,” they assured me. “We’ll just publish twice a week at first.” 

Parents, don’t worry: we’ll be sure to cover the full curriculum too.

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If you’d like to browse my past delights, please consult the “word cloud” featured at the very bottom of this post. Find a theme or two that interests you and sift through the sands. Or learn a bit more about my Blog by visiting my Welcome page. You’ll also see links to four essays that were published in print magazines. I’m glad you’re here!