1. Late Thursday
Thursday after the seventh period bell had rung and the students had left the room and the hallways were empty, I walked through the room picking up the few pieces of paper and dropped pencils that sometimes decorate the place after a hard day of algebra. I realigned the tables and wiped eraser shavings from the tabletops and pushed in the chairs. Because you want your room to be presentable (if not inviting) for the kids in the morning, right?
As I did this, I found a jacket hanging from the back of one of the chairs. This does not happen often. These kids are not easily separated from their clothes, unlike the elementary school down the street from where we live, where the children seem to eject clothing onto the fences with great regularity.
It was brown and fuzzy. It was Ariel’s. I sent her an email message.
“Ariel, you left your jacket here. It’s hanging on the wall behind my desk.”
2. Early Friday
Before school started on Friday morning, I got an email reply from Ariel.
“LOL yeah that’s my jacket mister. I was wondering where it was.” But she didn’t stop by to pick it up before first period began.
The first period students came in. They sat down. I took attendance. The classroom had the hubbub of a classroom before the teacher has called the students to order. Then one of them spoke up loudly.
“Mister, is that your jacket?” She was pointing at the wall behind my desk.
I laughed and shook my head. I so wanted to reply, “LOL no.”