SPRING BREAK!!!

Hooray!! It is finally Spring and also finally Spring break. When you are a teacher and have always been a teacher or a student you start to think of Spring breaks and Summer breaks as constitutional rights!

I feel very bad for all of my actual working friends and family who don't get mandatory built in breaks. This week I had to stop myself three times from planning road trips remembering...oh yeah Gabe has to work!

Spring Break always seems to come at just the moment I am ready to pull out my hair and quit. Today I collected student biographies on scientists (facinating reads!). There were many many students procrastinating until the very last moment. This is a temptation I recognize but of course have to be against as a teacher. Well the funny story is...after the last class I immediately shut and lock my door to pump milk. Usually I see students later but today I planned on leaving right away for the emergency faculty meeting at the nearby bar. So there I am sitting at my desk pumping away trying to read about Newton, when I hear four students at my door. They try the door and find it locked. Then they try it again 15 MORE TIMES. (I always live in fear of the day it suddenly opens) Then I hear a conversation about whether I am or am not in the room. Then they bang on the door some more. None of this is really helping my milk flow but I feel a little ummm shy about yelling out..."I'll be there when I'm dressed!" Then the students try to get the janitor to open the door (she refuses) Then finally someone has the bright idea of jamming the papers under the door. There is a further conversation about whether I will know they turned them in before or after spring break. So then they write a note and go next door to have another teacher time stamp it. After all of that I get up and collect the papers only to see that THEY AREN"T COMPLETE!!!

I have to say that if they worked as hard on WRITING the papers as they did on trying to turn them in late then they would probably learn more. But I have turned in so many late papers I have to smile a little :)