Setting the Stage

Today, after driving Dad's big brown truck to pick him up from one of our hay pastures, I loaded my car and went to school. I had stopped by yesterday to pick up some materials I'd promised to share with some colleagues online, and I used about an hour between my haircut and my doctor's appointment to start getting the beginning of the school year chores done. I continued that work today trying to get everything set up for the ever-hastening beginning of school.

I don't think anybody who isn't a teacher or a teacher's kid knows how much preparation goes into making a room nice and ready for the start of school. I removed the long swaths of green paper I'd used to keep my bookshelves safe from the floor stripping and resealing. I finished the process of throwing away the last bits of things from last year that were no longer needed. I organized some junk drawers. There are a million little things that have to be cleaned, hung or rehung, changed, made, printed, and arranged before school can start.

I unwrapped and put out all my little knickknacks. My bobbleheads, Poe, Shakespeare, Darth Vader, and a pit bull, all sway in comforting unison atop my stereo again. My little rubber ducks who remind me to say, "QUACK", and let the nonsense roll off my back, sit in multicolored splendor next to my Magic Fortune Cookie (think Magic 8 Ball, only shaped like a fortune cookie)on the shelf above my student computer. My fencing foil, so useful as a pointer when not being used to explain Laertes' nasty trick in the final fight with Hamlet, is out of hiding as is my hurley.

All in all, I worked for about 4.5 hours, and although I'm not finished, I feel a lot better about it. I got my "This Day in History" calendar up, sent materials to the print shop, tracked down my AP scores (10/17 passed YEAH!!!), and got all my classroom organizational aids (assignment calendars, missed handout holder, etc.) spruced up. All that's left is to finish out my syllabi and run them off.

When I finally decided that there was nothing else to do this afternoon, I grabbed my workbag and went to the door. Turning back and looking at everything waiting for August 1st was pleasant. The stage is set, and now the new year can begin.