2.04.2025

ten things tuesday

Ten things on my desk at school:

1)  Blotter calendar. I like filling it in month by month, keeping track of paydays with a little green dot, and color-coding meetings based on how much dread I have important they are.

2)  Book rack.  It's big enough to hold my Teacher Editions, although I seriously cannot remember the last time I referred to one of them.

3)  "To be graded" precarious stack of papers.

4)  A pinecone-shaped jar with a pinecone inside. A student gave it to me years ago in honor of his favorite lesson in class--I made up my own earth-based religion with the pine cone as its symbol when I was teaching them about the five parts of the First Amendment.  I illustrated how uncomfortable it would be to have them "pray to the pinecone" before every class.  And one year, I forgot to tell the class that I made it up--so they thought I actually pray to pinecones.  It was hilarious as it all played out.  Students always give me pinecones they find, especially big ones, so they really are all around my classroom.

5) A Thirty-second Dance Party button.  There's nothing like German dance music to get the class moving and grooving.  Although, in all honesty, it's used as a torture device:  if they are late for class they have to push the button and dance (a loose interpretation of dancing, here, including bobbing the head to the music for a few seconds).  It prevents a LOT of tardiness.

6)  A Magic 8 Ball.  The best fortune teller ever!  I even teach them to say "8 Ball, oh 8 Ball will....blah blah blah" the way I did it when I was a kid.

7)  A Camelback water bottle.

8) Pop-up Kleenex cube.  I buy my own tissues for the classroom and get the soft kind.  My students appreciate it. And hand sanitizer.

9) Small remote control for the twinkle lights that frame the whiteboards and bulletin board.

10) Laptop.

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