And Another Bond Broken
I have this old-school hard-shell briefcase, defaced with bumper stickers and ill-treatment, in which I keep my classroom artifacts -- smarty pants, certain pictures, student work samples, balls and bells and skill quiz binders -- that I use when I make the rounds doing workshops. When I saw the smashed car window and the contents of my central console strewn about the car for the second time in six weeks I was bummed, but it wasn't until I realized that dude hadn't just made off with $0.78 from the change collection area, dude had also taken my briefcase o' student work samples.
And now I don't have any.
And I can't go back to work on Monday and make the kids produce more.
And this isn't just about my effectiveness as a workshop presenter.
No one, no one single person, has experienced a more painful or disastrous exit from the classroom as I. The ties that bind me to that place and that time keep getting cut in unpleasant and unpredictable ways.
And now I don't have any.
And I can't go back to work on Monday and make the kids produce more.
And this isn't just about my effectiveness as a workshop presenter.
No one, no one single person, has experienced a more painful or disastrous exit from the classroom as I. The ties that bind me to that place and that time keep getting cut in unpleasant and unpredictable ways.
posted by Kilian Betlach at 9:25 AM
11 Comments:
What kinds of projects did you lose? Maybe your readers could help you replace them.
Shit. That sucks so bad. I'm so sorry.
horrible :(
Thanks pseudo-K. Thanks Leyla.
NBosch, this is what was stolen:
1) Two pairs of smarty pants -- gross board shorts that my kids autographed to indicate mastery of various concepts
2) Five stellar answer books from the novel Seedfolks
3) Six flatbooks, with nearly a year's worth of essays in each one
4) Four Lewis & Clark Discovery Projects, with essays and illustrations of new lands explored, new animals and planted uncovered
5) Eight skill quiz binders of my own construction, with a year's worth of vocabulary/ grammar/ reading quizzes, in reverse chronological order
6) Seven snapshots of us doing the Dr. Phil reading activity to the HP A story "Owl"
7) Two fly-swatters
8) Three "Honoring My Ancestors" projects, with family member illustrations and accompanying essays
9) Three snapshots of the relay race grammar activity
10) One bag of marbles
11) One bottle of Nyquil filled with purple-dyed water
12) One over-sized lightbulb
Also:
Papers. Business... uh, papers.
Have you thought of moving to Portland, OR?
This sucks skunk wanker. Big time. I'm sorry to hear about it.
I've been in your shoes. My whole car was stolen, though. My leather bag with student papers, report card grades, lesson plans, etc. was gone for a week.
Then--a strange phone call to the school. A message from some nice people who'd found my bag under their front bushes, with most of the papers intact. They'd thankfully looked through the bag and found the school and my name. I drove to their house and gave them a big potted plant and my gratitude.
There's hope, I hope.
Middle School Mom
I'm sorry. That's so awful.
So sorry for your loss. www.debrennersmith.com
I could provide the fly swatters...you did lose some good stuff!
Aw, that is horrible.
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