Appreciation

For the second year, I have totally breached the ethical code for science teachers by showing my kids how to make dry ice bombs. I tried to make up for it by lying and telling them it was really hard to buy dry ice and that you have to have a good reason for wanting it and that I had to show my teacher ID (not true…I told the guy conversationally that we were making dry ice bombs – he said he’d pretend he didn’t hear that because legally he couldn’t sell dry ice for that purpose). I felt slightly better about the whole thing when it came to light that several of my students had been making toilet bowl cleaner bombs, so what I was showing them was actually improving their safety – what, with the decreased likelihood of severe chemical burns or inhalation of toxic fumes. Anyway….




Making dry ice bombs was fun, and this year my kids seemed to have a better grasp of what was causing them to explode (you know, the whole PV=nRT thing…). I also enjoyed placing small bottles outside on my window ledge and watching the explosion up close. No kids allowed for this one – staff only.

All of this took place on Monday during the week of Teacher Appreciation Days. Like so many secretary’s birthdays, we seem to have stretched this “holiday” out over the whole week – not because we’re so appreciated that it warranted extra time, but because we are so disorganized that we couldn’t get it together on the right day. On Tuesday, we had the kids write notes of appreciation to teachers if they wanted to. I facilitated this for the 10th grade and also had to proof-read the notes they wrote (because nothing spells appreciation like “Thank you for…being a bitch. I hate you.”). I have to say, my notes, which mostly said things along the likes of “you try to give us the best education” or “I’ve learned so much” or “you helped me to succeed” meant a lot more than some of the others I read, like “thanks for letting us talk on our cell phones as long as we are working.” My favorite note said something to the extent of “you are energetic and enthusiastic. You can get a little emotional at times, but you always apologize.” Puzzling. I did feel a little guilty taking my 30 notes out of my mailbox while another teacher was gushing about her 2, but that’s what I get for blowing things up the day before and making them write the notes in my class. And, needless to say, my kids’ nice notes made me feel far more appreciated than the greasy chicken wings provided by my school for lunch the next day. Go figure – warm fuzzies from students beating out indigestion from hostile staff.