Time capsule

I was testing in my old classroom today.  Five years ago, I moved from TJ to WT White, and I took all of the important things that I was allowed to move with me.  That building has had its rooms re-numbered so many times, that I can't remember what the actual room number was when it was mine, though I think it may have been 225.  It was 222 when Mom taught in that same place.  It was something like 230 when I was on campus a few years ago.  It is 227 now.  I don't fully understand why they keep changing the room numbers, but with teacher turnover as high as it is there, I suppose it doesn't matter all that much.

I had to administer the TAKS math test and the STAAR biology test at the same time.  That wasn't exactly the best fun ever.  I read the instructions in a small group to the TAKS kids- there were three this time around.  After they were started, I read the instructions to the STAAR kids.  There were two kids taking the STAAR who, upon discovering that they would be dismissed for the day when they finished the test and be marked present for summer school purposes, finished in ten minutes.  I am sure they did their best work.  Hey- there's a reason they have to retake the test in the first place, just like there's a reason they are in summer school.

The majority of the STAAR testers finished in under an hour, leaving me with my TAKS kids.  One of them apologized for taking so long, and I told her to take all the time she needed.  I said, "Don't you worry for a second about me.  The only thing you should be concerned with today is doing your very best work on that test.  My schedule is not your problem; I'll be fine.  You get those questions correct."

I genuinely think I am probably the right person for this task. and that is probably why the testing coordinator puts me with the kids who are finished with school, but missing a test grade.  One of my colleagues yesterday stopped by my testing room and expressed great surprise that there was someone taking as long as my last kid.  I said the girl should take as long as she wants or needs- if I had gone to all 12 years (or 13 if you count kindergarten) of school and a test in the summer was the only thing holding me back, I would want to make sure I did everything correctly.  It helps to have enough compassion to put yourself in their shoes.

But back to my old classroom- it was just a little bizarre.  My mother had that room before I did, and I took it over.  I stayed there when she moved on to Dallas ISD Instructional Tech, and even still, when she moved to Region 10.  She had put felt on the bulletin boards.  She hung curtains over the bookshelf.  She even put a coat hook on the wall by the back door.  All of that was still there.  The same tables were in the room, as were the same chairs.  Even the same teacher desk was in place, though this individual put it at what I considered the back of the room.  Still, it was kind of strange to see all of the old stuff five years later still in use.

I took a photo for my mom.  Most of that was hers before I inherited it.

It was in a lot better shape than the room I was in yesterday, but then again, I would expect nothing less from anyone currently in possession of my old classroom.  It seems to belong to a health teacher, now.  There were all sorts of student-made cautionary posters about different narcotics and other drugs.  That used to be the most pimped-out computer lab in the building.  I had a green screen, a color laser printer, and a laundry list of badass software that other teachers envied.  Now, it's a place where, apparently, the woman who runs girls athletics talks about nutrition and sexually transmitted diseases.  Time marches on, I suppose.  But it was kind of a trip to see my old furniture still in use.