Musings

This is a hard job. Besides the classroom stuff there's lots of paperwork and I barely keep up with it all. Sometimes I can't face it. Yesterday, I drew on the sidewalk after school with my daughter. Drawing and pretending to be an astronaut was a nice diversion. You can't think about paperwork when you've got a cardboard box on your head.

We teachers spend a lot of money. I've dropped hundreds at the teacher's store, bookstore, you name it. The dollar store is a wonderful place for teacher stuff. I dropped by mine tonight looking for stuff to replenish our classroom prize box and there was some great stuff - lots of puzzle books, magic tricks, and craft kits. The kids love the magic stuff. I'm keeping a deck of magic cards for myself. I gave away 10 over the last few weeks including my own. Why should the kids have all the fun?

Watching them reminds me of my childhood. I wanted to be Houdini when I was in 4th grade. I would check magic books out of the library and learn tricks. I don't remember any of them. I must have checked Thurston the Great's book out 100 times. Perhaps this summer I'll have some time to practice some? The kids have no idea who Houdini or Thurston were but they are interested in magic, dinosaurs, and playing with dolls. That continuity with the past is nice and sustains you when a eight-year-old kid is calling you a motherf'er and spitting in your face.

I'm listening to an archived show on Whyy's Radio Times about teacher qualifications in Pennsylvania. Betsey Useem from Research for Action keeps saying that No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is the law and has been for some time and that's it. God, it irks me. I wish the show was in real time because I'd call in. NCLB is an awful law for too many reasons to get into this late in the evening. A rich subject for a lot of future posts.

The Phils lost tonight but Washington's Brad Wilkerson hit for the cycle. The cycle is one of the coolest things that can happen in baseball. I was at the Vet when Greg Jeffries hit for the cycle against Nomo on August 25, 1995, and I'll never forget it. It was one of the coolest baseball games I have ever seen. Let's hope some Phils begin to hit for the cycle all over the league. I've got my rally cap on!