Day #8 of the #Reflective teacher challenge - What's in my desk drawer? Everything but the kitchen sink!

I'll let you in on a little secret. Over the summer I packed up the contents of my desk, nicely boxed so our fabulous custodial staff could deep clean my classroom. I came back in August and hit the ground running. My secret? I never actually finished unpacking that box. It is currently stashed UNDER my desk. I know what's in it, and occasionally go digging for something.

Don't get me wrong - I did unpack the necessities. Pens, pencils, post-it notes - check. Correction fluid - of course. Advil, bandaids, and cough drops? Absolutely. But the five extra packs of index cards? Still in the box. The collection of toys? In the box. The stack of "important papers I absolutely meant to get to" - you guessed it, in the box. The precious folder of thank you notes from previous students? Still in the box, but I know it's only a matter of days or weeks until those make an appearance. That really bad teaching day is coming, I'm sure.

So what can I infer from my desk drawer and my little secret? Well, the obvious answer is that I'm too lazy to get around to unpack. A kinder interpretation might be that I'm so busy with all the work we educators do that I just haven't found the time. Of course, like many educators I'm also a pack rat. We are so used to thinking on our feet as we design and present lessons, and we just never know when that package of twenty dice just might coming in handy during a group project.

So there you go. Next time you swing by room G-6 I'll give you a peek in the box. Who knows what else is in there!