January 9, 2013

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  The Daily News

  
  

  1   So…Yesterday I came home and deliberately tormented my dog.

  
  

  2   I got home early, and she looked up at me wanting either to go for a walk or to have an enormous snack.

  
  

  3   It was early afternoon.
  

  
  

  4   Grades are due today at 4 p.m. 

  
  

  5   On the Dogometer, this is an insignificant concern.

  
  

  6    Grades are due, and my dog wants a walk, and has gone zany.

  
  

  7    Grades are due. Semester grades.
  

  
  

  8    I loves me my dog, but grade deadlines????
   
  

  
  

  9      

  

  

  

  10   To a dog, however, going for a walk is a MAIN concern.

  
  

  11   Sometimes I make the mistake of over-feeding my lovely Pheebz. 

  
  

  12    Just to quiet her down. I don’t always do that, but last night I had to.

  
  

  13    We’re talking semester grades. That’s huge. It requires significant concentration and accuracy. 

  
  

  14    I’m pretty sure she understood.

  
  

  15    She has a sort of sixth sense that way.

  
  

  16     So I tormented her into at least a stall. If you have a dog, you know what I’m talking about. When they get pushy, you stall whatever it is they want, and deliberately. This way they know who is in charge. If you don’t, they’ll own you. 

  
  

  17     I gave her a snack, and a bit of water.

  
  

  18     That was the extent of my torment. 

  
  

  19     I eventually gave her a light dinner, which she fully appreciated. 

  
  

  20     Grades were still due, mind you. But she owns me.
  

  
  

  21      I set up shop, which takes at least fifteen minutes. I have to organize when it comes to crunch time, and I have to make sure everything is nearby.

  
  

  22     What a lot of people don’t realize is that there is no such thing as an “office” for a teacher. We are nomadic, and carry our “offices” everywhere we go. The trunk of my car is my “office.”

  
  

  23    I carry staplers, lit books, dictionaries, multi-colored paper clips, pencils, pens, staplers, and tons of papers from one place to another. Students’ papers get tattooed with muddy shoe prints, spilled coffee, salsa, and mustard. 

  
  

  24   I have spent two different New Year’s Eves working up to ten hours grading and checking for accuracy.

  
  

  25   And it all comes down to when the semester grades are due. 

  
  

  26   At times it becomes slap-happy. 

  
  

  27   This year I stayed all over it. I had no real social life, but I knew that staying all over it was going to pay off by the time grades were due. 

  
  

  28   I fear hubris here, because there is always that one stack of papers I might have missed lurking somewhere at someplace.

  
  

  29   Even being all over it doesn’t really mean that you have been all over it. 

  
  

  30   Fortunately, I have been posting my grades the entire semester so that students, parents, and administrators could have a peek. 

  
  

  31   I have given it my all, and I am still into the 2 a.m. checking and re-checking. 

  
  

  32   I went to sleep last night at eight. I have mastered the fine art of insomnia. If I am exhausted after school, I can do a little grading, eat, torture the dog, give in and give her about twelve Pupperonies, have a couple of Crystal Lights, and then hit the hay. 

  
  

  33   In between all of this, I type up this nonsense, just to relax. And I do manage to eat.
  

  
  

  34   Today I’ll be back to sleep somewhere in the four a.m. and still be tanned, rested, and ready for whatever the day might throw at me.

  
  

  35   It is a different lifestyle, to be sure. But for me, it works. Especially at crunch time, with a barking, eager dog. 

  
  

  36   I did play with her, and she turned into a puppy again, even though she must be around two-hundred year’s old. She’s my Charley. I caved yesterday and played around with her, just because she just is. 

  
  

  37   Grades can wait. 

  
  

  38   She has the sweetest face. Sometimes nothing in life is more important than a dog’s sweet face.

  
  

  39    So yeah.

  
  

  40    I caved. 

  
  

  41    Moving on, Part the First: Anyone lookin’?

  
  

  42    I think it was yesterday that I posted about my sister Gayle’s Christmas gift, which was this wonderful book of my Mom’s recipes, complete with pictures of her hand-written recipes as well as with pictures of us all from very young to very dynamic. 

  
  

  43   Did I put that well?

  
  

  44   Ah, who cares?

  
  

  45   AnywayZ…

  
  

  46   I texted Gayle yesterday during class telling her that I brought that wonderful book to school to share with my students. My students saw me texting, because they were taking out their homework, and I looked up and said, “I’m texting my sister, who put together that book of my Mom’s recipes. Say ‘Hi!’ ” Of course they did. She didn’t really hear it because it was a text and not a phone call. But the thought was there, if the thinking wasn’t.
  

  
  

  47   I decided to set the tone for the second semester. Rather than listen to every change that the educational pendulum throws at us, I decided to put absolute heart into this new year. 

  
  

  48   So far, it has worked. I just have to side-step all the nonsense and theories that change every three years, and teach with the same soul I have always taught with. With which I have always taught. 

  
  

  49   This year I am going to try to own my own classes, and teach with heart. If I start with my family, and especially with my Mom’s soul, I don’t see how it won’t work. I’ve reached a point in life where I want to give teaching everything I can, as long as it no longer takes from me. 

  
  

  50   Yesterday I was lecturing like a madman, trying somehow to make words like “participle” “gerund” and “infinitive” sound like “chocolate” “whipped cream” and “pizza.” 

  
  

  51   I told my students that whoever invented the language must have done a study on sleeping habits of your average citizen, and must have come up with the most boring names for all things grammatical. I told them that if they have sleep issues, and if they awaken in the middle of the night with night terror, that they should just say the word “gerund” five times and they will drift right back to sleep. 

  
  

  52   I’m not sure that it worked, but the kids who were still awake got it. 

  
  

  53   During my last class of the day, I felt I had most of them engaged. Sometimes I let my students’ friends who don’t have a class sit in my class, because they are supposed to leave campus. A lot of them don’t have rides. They are usually pretty polite. 

  
  

  54   Right in the middle of my lesson on the always interesting topic of participles, this little girl came in, all ears and braces, and quietly sat on the floor next to her best friend. I just smiled and continued. It didn’t bother me because she was not only polite, but somehow interested in what I was lecturing. 

  
  

  55   Adorable kid. 

  
  

  56   I timed everything perfectly, and even played a little Disney music after the bell rang. I play music for my students all the time. They all said, “Have a nice afternoon Mr. Harrington!” and “Think you!” That’s their version of “Thank you.” Sweet kids. 

  
  

  57   Interestingly, the little girl who crept into my class stayed for a second, turned at the door and put out her hand. I shook her hand.

  
  

  58   She said, “My name is Shirley!”

  
  

  59   I smiled and gently said, “My Mom’s name is Shirley!” She smiled and said, “Nice to meet you!”

  
  

  60   I said, “Nice to meet you too!”

  
  

  61   Sweet.

  
  

  62   Well, I think it is in the 3 a.m. and I might just grab an extra hour of sleep. Charley came out during all of this, and I gave her a couple of more Pupperonies. She lumbered back to her bed for a much-needed slumber, and I think I’m ready for a bit myself. 

  
  

  63   Grades are due, but right now, I don’t really care. 

  
  

  64   I’m smiling, watching some old movie on TCM.

  
  

  65   Time to go. 

  
  

  66    More to come.

  67    Have a lovely day.
  

  
  

  68    Peace.

  
  

  ~H~

  
  

   

  www.xanga.com/bharrington

  
  

  
  

  
  

  • 9:54 am
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