I Need a Break

Recently I’ve noticed that I am not the only one anticipating the Christmas Break. The students are also looking forward to the mid-year recouping period. We teachers are trying our utmost to get the kids to finish and/or make up their work as the semester comes to a close. Their young brains seem to be overloaded at times with schoolwork and excitement, but they still function rather well.
It isn’t easy for me to comprehend their energy. My ancient mind seems to fossilize now and then which gives them ample opportunity to flex their creativity and remind me that I am not as smart as I may think.
For instance last week we began incorporating a few Seasonal Crafts into the lessons to help the blah décor of the classroom. On one of the walls there are two old chalkboards separated by a narrow window. Using tape, a teacher aide covered the chalkboards with colorful paper and edged it with a stylish border.
Mid-week one of my students had finished his work and proceeded to color a design on a sheet of paper. When he was through he pointed to the papered wall and asked me if he could staple it up there. I was assisting another student at the time and without thinking I blurted, “Sure.”
A couple minutes later he called my attention to his success. His paper was stapled to the wooden trim of the window. Before I could ask him why he chose that particular spot he smiled and informed me that, despite what I thought, you can’t staple paper to a chalkboard.
There is also a large paper Christmas tree taking up a good portion of another chalkboard located on a second wall. The kids have been decorating it with hand made construction paper ornaments. At first they only cut out circular shapes and colored them. Then they progressed to gluing beads on the ornaments before taping them to the tree.
It was evident early on that the tape could only hold so much weight. The top of the “ornaments” would fall forward. It was only a matter of time before they fell off. It was time for Kip to come to the rescue.
I had remembered a trick that makes paper a bit sturdier and thought it might work. If the ornaments were not as flimsy then they would stick better. That was the theory. I squeezed some Elmer’s Glue in the center of a newly cut-out ornament, wet the index finger of my right hand, held the edges with two fingers of the left hand, and then with my the moist finger I spread the blob of glue all over it. The idea is that when the glue dries it will form a clear, waxy film. Thus, reinforcing the paper.
It looked like it would work until I pried my fingers from my sticky masterpiece. The thing immediately curled up. Apparently, glue contracts some when it dries. I can still hear them laughing at me. I didn’t understand it. I guess the teacher who showed me the process long ago knew some trick that she willingly did not care to share.
I had my shot. It was now the student’s turn to demonstrate her problem-solving skills. She finished another ornament, grabbed a glue stick, walked to the paper tree, rubbed some glue directly on the tree, and then pressed her ornament firmly on it.
Yep, after a week like that I feel a break is in order.