It was one of those days. I had inservice (one day down, four to go) at a college that's about 45 minutes away. I left early, so that I would have time to chat with other teachers and drink my coffee. Unbeknownst to me, the major roads I had to take were under construction. Detours and road closings abounded. I took a detour, then made a wrong turn, and wound up WAY off course. I called my mother at work for some navigation help. She whipped out her map and started giving directions. We were doing fine, until she looked at the map wrong - she sent me left when I should have gone right, and I wound up lost again. I hit two more closed roads, another detour, and finally found my way to the college. An hour late. As soon as I got there, our presenter started sending our group on break.
And then I saw my principal. She's a great principal, and she rarely gets on my case. (I'm one of her "favorites," which I'm not comfortable with, but that's another post for another time.) The conversation went as follows...
Principal: Well, you got a new computer in your room!
Me: Great! I can't wait to try it out!
Principal: Yeah, but you need to move some things in your room.
(Keep in mind... I spent 2 days last week rearranging my room. I was Very Happy with my room. I even called Miss W to boast about my interior decorating skills.)
Me (peeved by turn of conversation and still disgruntled about 2 1/2 hour car ride): Ooookay....
Principal (oblivious to my disgruntlement): You see, your computer table is on the window wall, but it needs to be in the back of the room, where the outlet is. That means you'll need to move your yellow wheeled cabinet somewhere else. The computer guy is coming back tomorrow to hook the computers up to the internet.
Me: Ooookay.... (long pause) So I guess I can go over for a little bit today...
Principal (enthusiastically): Good! I'll be there, and so will Custodian, so we can help you move your furniture.
And so that's how I spent my afternoon. Me, Principal, Custodian, and Miss W moving all the furniture that I so carefully and lovingly arranged last week. It doesn't look bad... but I really had my heart set on my first plan.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
That is frustrating because a well designed room is a must for the teacher. It would be great if everything was as planned. But a new computer is a good thing!
When our school got its first networked computers, they didn't ask any of us where we wanted the network connections.
They put them UNDER THE CHALKBOARDS in every room. Chalkdust + computer = trouble, plus that's where many teachers spend a lot of their time, particularly with 4th and 5th graders, whom I taught.
It meant a major redo of all our rooms, and I ended up buying a rolling white board, so I could turn my class sideways.
BA~~82
Aw, that's a bummer. That happened to me in one of my schools right after I had spent a day moving everything just right. Frustrating.
Post a Comment