The Last Day of School - Part 2

The last day of school...(Part 2)
Thursday, started off slow, but I was happy because today is the last day of school.

I always wear a white dress shirt and black slacks everyday -- except trip days when I wear black jeans and sneakers. On the last day, I usually wear something casual. My plan was to wear the school T-shirt, however, I gained weight and I bought an XXL size even though I'm a L size. Since T-shirts shrink too much, I bought a XXL size so that I could wear it even after it shrinks. However, when I tried it on, it didn't look right. A baggy T-shirt on a flabby body, so at the very last minute, I changed. I wore a white shirt without a tie.

I made my "late train". At the Bronx station, the taxi cab that I usually take was at the station. I'm not sure what the taxi driver's schedule is like, but he likes to wait for me because I am a big tipper. I really liked the convenience of having the taxi driver waiting at the station. Today was the last day, so I tipped the guy a bit more. I gave the guy $25 for a $10 or $12 trip. I arrived at school with 10 minutes before I had to pick up my class.

When it was time to pick up my class, Princess Beady was the first in line. At that moment, I knew my half day would be a long one. Then later, Sneak strolled in late, followed by Giggles, and then Cackler. Each of them in their regular hyper mode. Except Cackler who was a bit less hyper (but not by much). Cackler will have to go to summer school because she failed one of the NYS tests.


Anyway, my goal of having an easy packing day went right out the window. I bought in a couple of DVDs to show on the Smartboard. The choices were:

The Incredibles
Wallace & Gromit
Spirited Away

Well, Princess and Giggles did not like the DVD that was voted on, so they became disruptive, complaining loudly (and incessantly) about the "baby movie". The movie was Wallace & Gromet. Although I agreed with them that Spirited Away was a better choice:
1. Majority voted for W&G.
2. Giggles came in late.
3. Most import was that the majority were good kids, so shouldn't they get their choice.

Princess went into her princess mode. I called her mother to explain princess' behavior, but mom seemed to care very little. I told the mother that Princess was behaving like she was entitled to have whatever she wanted. I also told the mother that if Princess continued with the spoiled behavior (I didn't use those words), then I would give her the refund for the trips she did not attend. Mom's response, it's okay, just give her the money order.

It got so bad, that I finally went ballistic. Last day, half day and they were giving me a headache. It was a half day and they were ruining it. Finally, I just exploded. I basically told them to shut up and sit down. No, again, I didn't used those words -- although, I would have liked to have used them. Giggles' (loud) argument was that W&G was a baby movie, and she didn't want to see a baby movie. So since she wanted something more mature. Also Cackler, Princess, and Sneak who all joined in the loud, disruptive argument about not wanting to see the "baby movie". They also added how they were going to fourth grade and should be doing something higher level. I told the class to separate the desks -- about 11 students came for the last day. I gave the students math workbooks and told them to do the work I'd planned to cover this week anyway. They were quiet, and they were now doing higher level work.

By the time my class was dismissed, I was exhausted. I just wanted to sleep. However, I had to tackle my teacher's area. Even though I had not even started packing my teaching materials and resources, I was suppose to pick up the U-Haul van. I tried to call and reschedule my rental time again, however, this time, the guy told me that there was nothing available Friday or Monday, so I left to pick up my rental van.

Remember, my driving experience is very limited. I was a bit nervous, but I really believed that I was ready. The U-Haul company turned out to be a small lot with permission (I can only assume) to lease U-Haul trucks and vehicles. The lot was small. It was one of those small unpaved areas with a very small trailer parked just inside the main (and only) gate entrance. The trailer was the office of the company. Long story short, the van I was assigned was located behind the stairs of the trailer. To get out of parking space and off the lot, a driver had to maneuver around the stairs of the trailer. With about one foot space between the vehicles, I should have asked the attendant the get the van from the lot. However, being excited, I really didn't think. The result? Trying to maneuver around the stairs of the trailer caused me to damage the owner's car (1ft. next to the van). Once I took my foot off the break, and the van began to roll, I started turning the steering wheel to avoid the stairs. The lot attendant told me that I should have let the van roll out more from before I started turning the steering wheel. Duh! The van somehow with barely a scratch on it managed to dent the front side of the car, damaging the front side with deep scratches, broken headlight, and dented front frame. It was like the car was made of cheap aluminum; the front body of the car cracked like an eggshell. Needless to say, my nerves were shot. The manager of the lot just walked away and the lot attendant told me "to just go". I really didn't know what to do, so I drove the van off the lot. I managed to drive the van to school, but my nerves were so shot, that I could barely park it.

After moments of stressing and complaining to Ms. ATH, she was nice enough to offer to drive me home and back to the lot. That was very nice!!! I felt better knowing that I wouldn't have to drive. I packed my heavy objects into the van. My classroom packing philosophy is to pack as if I'm not coming back.
1. If I don't come back to school, I won't have any problems getting my stuff during the summer where the school building might be closed.
2. Packing like I'm leaving means that my classroom won't get too cluttered too quickly. The temptation of some teachers is to shove stuff into closets and cabinets at the end of the school year. A lot of teachers are so used to shoving things in this corner or closet that they tend to forget what they have or where they put it. A clean packing job means that if you return in September, then you have a pretty good inventory of what you have and where it is. Nowadays, some teachers tend to leave in such a rush that their packing can be considered incomplete. Teachers can (and do) leave posters still on the walls and computers left as is (no covered or not disconnected). A few teachers have left their bulletin boards up with the students' work still on. Since I pack my classroom as if I am not coming back (even though I most likely will), my classroom is (or will be)clean and ready if another teacher takes over. I also labeled all of my boxes so that it should not take long to unpack.

Anyway, since I had the van, and my nerves were shot, I wanted to finish as quickly as possible, so I grabbed whatever, I could quickly find and pack. I hadn't cleaned out my desk, nor my classroom supply closet, so I knew I would have to do more packing and cleaning. I brought about 6 boxes worth of stuff home.

Ms. ATH drove me to my home, and she waited while I brought my stuff upstairs. Luckily she didn't come upstairs, my place was a mess. I also didn't have any bottled water for her. I settled on orange juice.

Then on the way back, Ms. ATH asked if I wanted to drive back. A part of me wanted to say no, but a part of me recognized the "falling off the horse(or bicycle)" saying. The ride back was actually nice. I wanted to show my appreciation, since I didn't have cash in my wallet, and no ATM around, I gave Ms. ATM all of the money that was in my desk. Over the months when my class goes on a trip, I collect the money, but I don't like taking lots of bills and coins to the places, so I will either take bigger bills from my bank account, or I put the expense on my credit card. I usually use the small bills for simple shopping and spending money. So how much did I give her, to be honest, I really don't know. However, the way I was feeling after the accident, it was money well spent. Besides, after a long day, to volunteer to spend another couple of hours to drive in the opposite directions, and then be faced with the 2 hour commute home was very nice.

After making it safely back, I walked Ms. ATH to her sister's home. And I took the MN train home from 125th street.

Friday. I arrived at school about 9:15AM and stayed until about 5:40PM packing. I will also have to return to school on Monday to finish my packing. On Friday, I spent most of the time cleaning out the classroom supply closet and going through mounds and mounds of papers stacked around my desk, and squirrelled away in various places. Next, I will try to not let the paperwork overwhelm me like it did this year.

Post Date - Sunday, July 13, 2008 12:06PM