June is usually spent being human - running errands in the middle of the day, reading a book for pleasure, going to a movie matinee - all things that are unheard of during August - May! July 4th is full of fireworks, family, and food. Then before any teacher realizes it, it is the middle of July. Where does the time go?
Last week was the elusive teacher sale at local education stores as well as Mardel. What teacher does not love the 20% off. The summer before my first year, my mentor and other teachers got me up EARLY to sign up for door prizes that I never won, get a giveaway that I never used, and be packed like sardines. I do not particularly love crowds but something about 20% off your entire educational purchase will draw a girl in.
This year, a teammate of mine and I ventured out together. We waited until the afternoon to avoid crowds. Our first stop was a local education store. It was not packed but it was busy for the afternoon! I picked out things on my list and a few that were not. Then we packed our haul into the backseat and ventured to Mardel.
We walked in and immediately were struck by the number of people in line. The line was wrapped around the store. It was a teacher's version of black Friday! Being the planners that we are, we decided to walk the aisles in an organized fashion to look at all the things we wanted to take in. The problem was - not all the other customers shared our vision. Many of them were clogging up aisles. My teammate really wanted some new border so we looked at border and then we roamed the store. After thought, we ended up in the border section as though we contemplating which border to choose much like it was the newest outfit we would wear.
I decided before the day began that I didn't need any border. I have a box of border that I could choose from. I change random bulletin boards each year just for a new look. I do not change borders and bulletin backgrounds throughout the year. Well as my teammate looked for border, I was sucked in. Wouldn't you know, I ended up purchasing new border.
We also were on a mission to purchase folders for our classes so that we could prep before the hustle and bustle of the year begins. We ventured to Wal-Mart (one of my least favorite places) because we are both picky on colors and quality. I bought 25 of one color and she found 25 of a color she wanted. Here is where problem #1 was encountered. Our second color because we needed two sets of folders, were not in stock. So we just decided we would go to another store including Target to find what we needed. We were also on an adventure to find white boys t-shirts. Problem #2 encountered when this Wal-Mart did not have the sizes in stock. We proceed to checkout. It was obvious (at least to us that we were teachers). Who else buys 25 of something?
I have the absolute work luck at checking out in Wal-Mart. It is one of the many reasons why I have to have a bucket full of patience when I do go. I inevitably pick the wrong line or the wrong cashier. So I let my teammate, Katheryn, choose. One person in front of us - we thought we were golden. She had two separate purchases, no big deal. Problem #3 was that she had peanut butter and it was not the right size for the coupon she had. The cashier was friendly and sends (or so he thought) a Wal-Mart employee to get the right size. Problem #4 was the employee never went and Problem #5 was it took the cashier a good ten minutes to figure this out. It was a thirty minute check out experience when it was all said and done. I should have chosen another line but I kept thinking to myself, "it cannot get any worse". It was a draining experience...but onto the next stop we went to find some folders and t-shirts.
We found our folders but still did not find t-shirts. How many Wal-Mart trips does it take to find two class sets of white boys t-shirts? The answer is five.
The white t-shirts, folders, and other purchases are not going to create a magical year for us or our students. The moral of the story is the length at which teachers go to make sure that children's needs are met even before we meet the children. In a time in education where teachers are being criticized and belittled across my home state and the nation, we are still willing to spend more out of pocket money than most other professions that I know. Therefore, 20% off an entire purchase of educational products is equivalent to Charlie finding the golden ticket in a Willy Wonka chocolate bar.
There were also adventures in finding ribbon and many other details as we prepare for the little ones. There are many different reasons teachers love summer. One of my favorites is living at my own pace without the stress of deadlines, meetings, or planning the next lesson. I love embracing all the lessons I learned last year as I prepare for my next group of little ones. I am sad to be on the downhill slide of summer - yesterday marks one month until the first day of school! I am thrilled when I think about new beginnings.
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