After I had assembled those study carrels, I returned to the main office to find out what they would like me to do next. If you haven’t had a chance to read the first part of my volunteering adventure at Twin Lakes, it’s located here.
Ms. Flynn, the school principal, asked me to take a duty station in the eighth grade area on the second floor. She knew that I was familiar with the building, so she just asked me to report to the hallway area immediately outside of Ms. Lisenby’s classroom.
She was right. I knew EXACTLY where to go.
As the test had already begun all of the hallways were completely clear and dead quiet. You could tell immediately that everyone was focused on testing.
I grabbed a chair and opened the book I had brought along–“Steve Jobs” by Walter Isaacson (iSad to this very day).
The testing period was pretty much uneventful on that first day. The only thing that I did was to escort individual students to and from the facilities. I also sharpened pencils that teachers had in Ziploc bags. This, by the way, was a bit of a challenge.
Decent pencil sharpeners are extremely hard to find at Twin Lakes. I tried the one in the house administrator’s office–it was extremely noisy and all it seemed to accomplish was chewing up the pencils.
Undaunted, I raced to the media center on the opposite side of the first floor of the building. I knew for a fact that there were a few good pencil sharpeners in there–or at least at one time there were.
I was right.
I had about a dozen pencils sharpen, and I accomplish the task as quickly as possible. Then, I practically ran back to the other side of the building and went up the stairs. The teacher who had given me these pencils must have thought that I had gone AWOL.
She was greatly relieved when I showed up at her classroom door.
Before I knew it, the testing session had ended for the day.
Because lunch had already started, I had an opportunity to visit with some of my former colleagues. It was really great. Everyone was delighted to see me, and of course, I was delighted to see them.
The next couple of days were very similar to my first day (minus the study carrels).
On the third day, I had an opportunity to get back briefly into the classroom for the first time in a little bit over two years.
I have to say it was a surreal experience.
One of the teachers in the eighth grade hallway opened her classroom door and motioned to me. She asked me if I could come into her class long enough for her to use the facilities.
And of course, I did.
Just before she left, she pointed into the room said to me, “The paper’s right there. Thanks.”
And then she disappeared.
This eighth grade science class had about 20 to 25 students. And as you might guess, they didn’t miss the changing of the guard. One rather tall fellow at the back of the classroom grinned at me and waved.
I acknowledged him with a simple nod of the head.
The majority of this class–I’d say about 14 to 15 kids had their heads on their desks. Three students sitting near the front of the classroom were still testing. The remaining kids who were still sitting up quickly checked me out, decided I was not a freak, and then totally ignored me.
They just simply give the kids too much time to complete this test.
Seems to me that they ought to be able to read or something once they have finished. We used to allow them to do that, but I guess even in the space of two years things have changed a bit.
About this time, I happened to look down on the table in front of me and found “the sheet.”
I had forgotten about this, but in the state of Florida, if ANYONE comes into another person’s classroom during the testing time, they must sign in on “the sheet.”
I went ahead and printed my name, the time I had entered, and then I signed it. About the time I had finished, the classroom door opened and the regular teacher came in.
I noted the time and left to a whispered, “Thank you.”
I miss the classroom, and I don’t miss the classroom–if you know what I mean.
On the fourth day, Ms. Flynn, the principal, had a surprise for me.
Coming Tuesday: Ms. Flynn Summons Me to Twin Lakes
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