My mother, unmatched desks, and bulletin boards-oh my!

I know I made it sound like in the first post that I have no job.  I simply eat bon bons and lay on the couch.  Well first of all, I have never tried bon bons so I am not sure if I would enjoy them.  I hear bon bons are chocolate however, so it is a distinct possibility that I would like them.  Secondly, I am more likely to sleep on the couch (or read) than simply just lay on the couch.  Get it right.  I actually have my Master's Degree in Education but have never taught.  This will be my first year.  All of our married life, I have been at school.  Only once did I work full time in a school as an Instructional Assistant so basically Warren has supported me.  I can't tell you how annoying it is to feel like Lucy asking Ricky for money. Every time Warren questions what I've spent the day doing or why I have bought another book/turtleneck (my fave!), I just hear Ricky saying, "Lucy, you've got a lotta splainin to do."

This is my first classroom so it's the first time I've ever had to put one together.  My mother, the 5'2 1/2" Energizer bunny came with me to get it all done.  I have gone to my classroom on numerous occasions only to feel overwhelmed and leave.  I knew if my mom came then we would get things done. 

The man who had my classroom before felt compelled to leave almost everything in the room.  Seeing as how I am lazy and scatterbrained, my plan was to leave everything as it was and hope one day he'd pick it up.  I just figured I could put things around his stuff.  My mother on the hand was completely disgusted by his leftover items and immediately hit the trashcan.  As she was throwing his coffee cups away, I asked what if he came back. 

"Just say you broke it."

"All of them?"

She didn't say anything as more personal items fell into the trashcan.

I also inherited a set of cubbies from him which I was excited about.  However, my mom managed to lift the cubby up by herself (seriously, she is a freak of nature sometime) but then it broke.  The bottom of it fell out and left on the floor was plywood and old nails.  In her barefoot feet, she kept jumping the bottom and saying it wasn't safe to have that in the classroom.  Meanwhile, I was yelling at her to get away from the nails.  I am fairly certain she must have stepped on several but never blinked an eye.  I am telling you, my mother is part supernatural or something.

We set up the desks just how I wanted to as well.  I wanted rows of two.  This gives students the opportunity to work individually but also in pairs.  I don't mind students discussing their work and I am careful to move about the room and listen to all conversations.  My mother kept pulling out all of the desks that did not match.  She kept saying there was no way I would need 28 desks.  I kept trying to pull aside the broken desks to prevent kids from sitting in there and being distracted.  My mother on the hand said, "No, the kids are all going to want matching desks!  How would you feel if you were that one kid who felt like they didn't belong because its desk didn't match?'  I looked at her like she was crazy.

"Um, probably wouldn't think about it.  Wait, did this happen to you?"

"Well, it would upset me!  I would have hated it as a kid and it's all I would have thought about!"

The light colored desk (all of the others were dark) is still sitting pushed against a wall right below a Percy Jackson poster.  I guess now the kid who feels bad about having the unmatched desk will think it's cool to have his/her very own poster.

Decorating was another could be-but it was too funny-to become a disaster.  My mom would look at my choices and say things like, "You think THAT looks good?"  or "Well, you're in charge.  For once."

My favorite was when we created the bulletin board.  My mom kept putting it off and putting it off.  Finally, she decided she was brave enough to tackle it.  I took her into the teacher lounge for paper and she was like, "Wait, there's already paper big enough for your bulletin board?  That makes it so much easier!"

My bulletin board, by the way, looks Mexican.  The background is yellow and the border is rainbow colored.  I thought it looked like a Crayola box but Mom said it looked gay friendly.  She stepped back though and said, "It looks Mexican!"  It actually does look like the ponchos draped across Mexican restaurants.  I hope my kids get that I am their English teacher and not their Spanish teacher.  Oh well, it least it looks like my class will be a continual fiesta.  Ole!