...under the door...

There is a door that connects my classroom to the one next to me.  It's pretty atypical.  In fact, I think they might be the only two classrooms in the building that do that.  I'm not totally sure why, but it might have something to do with being interior rooms.  (Yes, take a moment to feel sorry for me because I don't have a window.)  It actually works out well since the teacher next door has a section of the same subject, plus he kind of functions like the little brother I never had.  Well, that isn't 100% positive since little brothers are often annoying.

Today, during class I noticed a few white-board markers on the floor near our connecting door.  I recognized them as his markers, not mine.  So, I decided to go ahead and kick them under the door so that they would inevitably sail across the front of his classroom while he had a room full of students.  (Sometimes you just gotta get back at the annoying little brother in subtle ways, you know?)  Of course, some students saw this happen and were slightly amused by this immature act.  One student didn't see me kick them, but asked, Oh yeah, did you ever see those markers that came from Mr. Shaw's room?


I told him that I just kicked them back.

Apparently the markers had made their way into my room during this student's Spanish class...I don't know how long they'd been sitting there.

Oh...another story about that door (this one is for free):

Yesterday I was standing in front of the room & all of a sudden a student sneezed.  I mean, that little girl  SNEEZED!  The sound of that sneeze was so loud and, well, sharp is the only word I can think to describe it.  I felt like I had been attacked by it, and I was at least 8 feet away.  The whole class was kind of stunned.  After a quick recovery, I took the risk of interrupting the class next door, opened up our connecting door, and asked if they'd heard the sneeze & if everyone was okay, since I had personally felt like I was attacked.  The teacher confirmed that they were all okay, but they had indeed felt the repercussions of the sneeze.

...oompa loompas...

Students are working.

All of a sudden...

Student 1:  Wait, Miss O'Brien, are Ooompa Loompas real?

Me:  ODD LOOK TRYING TO UNDERSTAND WHERE THIS IS COMING FROM

Student 1:  No really...are they real people?

Student 2 with frustration building up:  They are midgets!  They are just midgets with orange make-up!




P.S.  I hate that movie.  It traumatized me for life.

...dress code...

I can't believe I haven't written about this yet this school year.
But I just made a quick glance over my posts, and I didn't see anything.

Well, my PLC (department for newcomers to the blog) has a dress code.  No really, we do.

In the past one of my coworkers used to say that he put his shirts in his closet and each day he would simply wear the next one.  Another guy in my hallway got into the habit of wearing a blue shirt every Monday.  He had some kind of reasoning...though I'm not really sure what it was.  I'm not sure when it started, but it is possible that he has been doing it for the past five years.  I'd have to ask him to be sure.

Last year the guys often ended up wearing the same color shirt on the same day, most frequently the blue one.  It turned into a kind of joke.  Somehow it became official that our hallway honored Blue Mondays.  Honestly, I was the one most likely to break the trend.  I got reprimanded quite often at the beginning of the week.

Well, this fall we decided to take it a step further and make an actual dress code.  Not just for Mondays, but for all week.  That's right a daily dress code.  We had some debate, and we even made some adjustments a few weeks in.

Here it is:
Mondays = Blue
Tuesdays = Green
Wednesdays = Red OR Purple (throw in a little variety, but not too much--we couldn't have red & green the same day because that would lead to a Christmasy theme that is inappropriate for most of the year)
Thursdays = Kaleidoscope Day (aka, wear whatever you want--people wanted to have an outlet for all the other colors in their wardrobe)
Friday = School Pride

We are fairly successful and are always excited when we have 100% compliance on any given day.  I'm doing much better with Blue Mondays by the way.  I think it helps knowing there is a particular expectation for each day.  And it definitely makes choosing my outfit a quicker process in the morning. Oh, and in case you were curious, it doesn't have to be the color of the shirt, though that is the most frequent choice.  It can be the color of accessory, i.e. tie, scarf, etc.  On occasion I have even gone with following the dress code by the color of skirt I wear.

Rumor has it, other staff members finally caught wind of our dress code this week, wrote it down, and might even be attempting to follow suit.  I'll be sure to check it out on Monday.

Our biggest downfall?  Dan doesn't have a green shirt.  We've never had 100% compliance on Tuesdays.  We knew since the very beginning that he didn't have one, but we put it on the schedule anyway.  I guess we all figured he would go out and get one by now.  I mean, I know one teacher used a Christmas gift card to expand his options in the purple department.

One of these days, I think one of us is going to come to school with a green shirt for Dan, at at least a green tie.

...tuesdays...

Today is Tuesday.

It happened during first hour.

Usually right after the bell, the intercom beeps, we stand up and say the pledge led by a senior girl, then sit down as she encourages us to have a nice day.

Today the bell rang, but the beep didn't come right away, so my co-teacher and I kept looking at the intercom (as if we were going to see something), waiting to tell the students to stand up before beginning the day.

As we waited, one student started talking--to whom, I have no idea--loud enough for both of us (and several students) to hear.

Tuesdays are weird.  I mean, Tuesdays are just weird days.  Monday is the beginning of the week, Wednesdays are the middle, Thursdays...


The intercom beeped.

My co-teacher and I exchanged amused looks and tried not to bust up laughing as we put our hands on our hearts and began, I pledge allegiance...