TGIVT (Thank God It's Vacation Time)

I can almost hear the buzz and bustle at all the area schools this morning.  It’s the last day before staff and students take off on two weeks' worth of vacation. 

If the trend I was seeing before retiring nine years ago has continued, last Friday could have been the last day for many students.

I can remember so clearly how classrooms would gradually empty out  as the week before vacation rolled on.  For some, two weeks just didn't seem like quite enough. 

I can also remember how fun it was to go to the staff room several times each day.  During the week, different departments were assigned to bring each day’s goodies.

And, oh, what a spread there was-----slow cookers filled with little sausages or meatballs in delicious barbecue sauce, lots of chips and exotic dips and beautifully prepared plates of homemade or Yoke's special Christmas cookies.

A humorous aspect of these faculty smorgasboards will never be forgotten by many of us teaching contemporaries. 

One of our colleagues always had his herd of  kids hanging out at school on this week,  it seemed.   

As each day of pre-vacation week wore on, those kids came in and came in often, filling their plates.  As the day ended, a representative of the pack grabbed what was left and took it to wherever.

This is the same staff member  I’d often spot the local grocery store on hand-out day, filling up on the giveaways.  One way to keep the grocery bill down, for sure.

I was chuckling to myself this morning during barn cleaning about one particular day before vacation that I shall never forget.   

The events of this day vividly brought home the lesson that kids---no matter how well-behaved or dedicated to your particular discipline---will let you down once in a while.

And, after seeing such a lesson play out, I learned to schedule important visitors to the classroom more carefully.

On this particular day before vacation, I had arranged the “ultimate” for my journalism students and newspaper staff.  But, on this particular day, THEY had scheduled their “gift exchange.”

I was brimming over with excitement as I drove to school, popped through the faculty room, grabbed a bite or two of goodies and bragged to the staff that I had Cindy Wooden coming to Cedar Post class today. 

In my mind, having Cindy Wooden coming to visit the Cedar Post staff could only have been trumped by our part-time Sandpoint resident and well-known pundit/actor Ben Stein popping in.

After all, Cindy traveled with the Pope on the Papal Jet----as a journalist----all over the world.  And, Cindy was a Sandpoint High grad and former Cedar Poster. 

My lesson plan for that day was nothing short of brilliant, or so I thought.

Well, my students had a different idea.  In their minds, the Cedar Post gift exchange trumped anything related to journalism. 

Cindy appeared in the classroom---maybe not straight from Rome on that particular day, but as Vatican correspondent for the Catholic New Service, she’d left a footprint or two in Rome and hundreds of other cities throughout the world. 

I proudly introduced her without a lot of fanfare.  After all, I’d mentioned her journalistic adventures a time or two to these students.

Cindy began her talk, telling about her day-to-day work and her trips, accompanying Pope John Paul II. 

I was so proud and mesmerized that I failed to notice the hubbub in the back of the classroom---for a while, anyway.  Then, quiet whispering turned into occasional giggles. 

A crescendo of noise was slowly becoming distracting.  Still, I attempted to maintain my gaze on Cindy, listening intently to every anecdote.

Occasionally, the students feigned interest----only occasionally, though. 

For some reason, one of those basic journalistic rules called “listening” slipped from the radar that day. 

Long story short, I doubt my students had a clue what Cindy has shared with them that day, and, if I remember correctly, her presentation to the class did not go bell to bell.   

After all, gifts had come to class, and gifts had to be exchanged before the bell rang.

And, so this morning as I think of those classrooms on this final day before vacation,  I sure hope the teachers are smarter than I was that day.   
Many of my colleagues were smarter and meaner when I was a teacher---they scheduled a test.   

These days before vacation are the days that definitely try teachers’ souls----with all the sugar, extra-curricular hoopla and the gift exchanges.  

On these days, even one degree of human separation from the Pope will not guarantee success or satisfaction in the classroom.

Only the final bell can do that.