Skip to main content

In Search Of....


The withdrawal of not being connected was enough to get me out of bed at 5am. Ready for the day, I blasted down to the local McDonalds to take advantage of their internet connection. Unfortunately, there would be no facebook fix for me.  Therefore, I figured I would head to school and start doing something. I did something alright. I wandered the hallways for at least 15 minutes looking for my classroom. When I found it, I stood dumbfounded in the middle of the room. It was empty. Nothing on the walls. I have nothing with me.  In two days the students will be invading the room. Together we will make the classroom ours.

Speaking of students, I got my class lists today. My first class is made up of 17 boys and 8 girls – 7th graders – many exceptional students. (The new way of saying what we used to say as special education.) I imagine they have had about enough of school and do not like Language Arts. It is up to me to change that. I have been wracking my head with how to get them involved. I have so many ideas, but need to hunt down the resources. The book closet contains mostly big, heavy textbooks.  The few novels there are, I have to schedule their use with other teachers. I would like to do an inquiry unit focusing on “Who Will Survive?” I wonder the response when we go outside and start building shelters?

Not only did I get lost in my own school, I showed up for my Human Resources meeting a day early only to find out that my social security card needed to match my license. It doesn’t. I have been married for 17 wonderful years. I go by the last name Robertson-Victor. It even says so on my passport. I was told today that my social security card needs to match. If not, I will be out of a job in 10 days. In no time, I was sitting at the Social Security office number in hand and was waiting for my turn. I left without my new card. In order to get one, I needed my marriage license and proof that my last name was once Robertson. Thank goodness for my dad the minister! (Jamie, if you are reading this instead of your tee shirt, be sure to save copies of the marriage license when you marry people.) I will be making the trip to Smithfield again sometime in the next few days so I can officially become “Mandie Allison Robertson-Victor.” Lesson to all you girls out there: Keeping your own last name makes paperwork so much easier!

A quick trip to the store was in order on the way home. I plugged the local IGA into the GPS and was on my way. I began to wonder if it had been overheating lately when it took me out to the end of a dirt road as my destination. On the bright side, I met a really nice lady and her daughter. I can hardly wait to see where I will get lost tomorrow!

Comments

  1. Hopefully you will receive your Marriage info. tomorrow or Thursday at the latest. I will let you know when it is in somebodies hands on its way to you. Your challenge sounds really exciting. I believe these kids are headed for the ride of their lives. You are prepared for the challenge and you and they will do just fine. Love ya, Dad

    ReplyDelete
  2. I loved when you said, "I can hardly wait to see where I will get lost tomorrow!" Your life will never be boring and you will meet a LOT of neat people along the way, because you certainly are not shy! :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Aging sucks.....or does it?

Upon first thought, watching a parent age sucks. Unnoticeable at first. A bit of a stoop, some creaking in the knees, whitening of the hair. The doctor’s visits begin, as do the pills One for high blood pressure, another to thin the blood, and a handful of vitamins to top it off. The signs are there, but it is easier to see him as he has always been. My father, a pillar of strength. Until my pillar was knocked off-kilter. A simple surgery and the mortality of my father looked me square in the eye when the drugs took hold of his brain. Amidst his fidgeting and confusion, I realized…AGING SUCKS! And then….enlightenment dawned upon me….AGING IS BEAUTIFUL Wrinkles tell of smiles while silver hair speaks a life of memories. Knees creaky after years of kneeling in prayer, offering up a lap, and climbing up the stairs for one more kiss goodnight. Almost forty-eight years of memories nestled in my heart. Memories of my father. Taking us to church each Sunday Building and fixing ...

Fiery Passion

It is 10:44am on Wednesday morning. I sit here in a darkened classroom with no power. During the last 24 hours I have walked a student down to the office with a big knot on her head as the result of a fight; counseled the other half of the fight on different choices she could have made; been an object of a discussion between two teachers; backed my car into a ditch; and restrained a girl. Oh, yeah, and I taught about Civil Rights a bit also. My life continues to be an adventure! Fast forward nine hours. My day at school has come to a close giving me a few moments to sit and reflect on the adventure of the last day and a half. I continue to contemplate what could be done to teach the girls how to embrace the fiery passion they have within rather than to let it out through fighting. Let’s take a walk back through time….. In every other school I have taught in, teachers have a lunch break. This is not the case at BMS. Teachers eat with the students, albeit at a separate table. We...

The Art of Being Thankful

Yup! This entry is going to be totally cliché. After all, it is that time of year where we stop and think about what we are thankful for in our lives. So here it is. My list of thankful. 1.    One less kid home for the holidays Sean won’t be coming home for the holidays this year. He has been with me every year at Christmas since 1988. I will miss him dreadfully. However, I am so very thankful that he will be spending the holidays honoring fallen soldiers. I am thankful for the man of repute he has become. Most of all, I am thankful he is not one of the fallen. 2.   Unemployment Tony does not have a typical job down here. A few days a week, he drives a rickshaw for tips only and substitutes whenever he gets the opportunity. While we never know what we can count on for the budget, I know I can count on him to be there for the girls; to clean the house; to get the vacuuming done; and so much more. I cannot even fathom how he could enjoy working inside the...