Christmas in October

Well maybe saying it's like Christmas in October is exaggerating...like a lot. Especially since the two "gifts" I received today were from work. And I never get presents from work for Christmas. Unless you count the candy cane taped to a card with some cheesy saying like, "Teacher's are the sweetest things in our life."

Not that I ever got that exact card. But I did get something similar. I just can't remember exactly what it was now. The point is, it's not something I hang onto and remember forever.

But today, I got something I will remember. Two somethings actually.

And they aren't presents, only things that will help me work more productively. And that can't be considered a present.

But just to humor me, lets call them presents because work has been a little rough lately (been working until 5 or 5:30 regularly- which is difficult considering I COULD leave at 4 and start at 7) and the only thing that would make me feel better about that is getting presents.

So present number one, well, I'll let you take a look for yourself:

A new laptop!!! And no, I didn't get two. Here's the thing about the "new" laptop. I got the laptop that is pictured on the right this past April. There has never been a problem with it. Not so much as a seconds wait to download something. It's been perfect!

Today the technology coordinator came into my room (in the middle of class, little annoying) and asks if I'd like a new laptop. I have a new laptop, so I was a little more annoyed that he wasn't aware of that (and still very annoyed about his incapability's of uploading names into my contacts of my email as I mentioned in a previous post). But then he made it clear to me that there are NEWER laptops than the one I have. And they are much faster and better!

If you remember my blog on the technology I use in the classroom, then you know I can't pass up something bigger, better and greater than what I currently have! So of course I took the new laptop!

(The how and why my school got new laptops and then newer laptops is still unclear to me. Trust me, I've learned in the world of education, upgrades in anything are few and far between. It's best to take first and ask later.)

Then after school I got my second present. This one was given to me by the janitor. He's been "improving" my classroom for three years now, and he is the nicest guy. I even have his son in my class this year and he is just as nice. But anyways, he was so funny about this. He came up to me with these items:

And he said, "these are your very own to keep in your classroom." My first thought was that he was boycotting cleaning my room because of the overwhelming filth I was unaware of. But then he quickly said, "the superintendent wants every classroom to be equipped with these so you can disinfect whenever and wherever, when you need to, and not have to wait for the days end."

Huh...the reality of the amount of students being sick must have finally sunk in for the superintendent. AND I get to at least try to do my part to help stop it. That is the present. The ability to at least try to be proactive instead of reactive (because I think I've reached my limit on how many work packets I can make for students that are absent).

Oh how wonderful Christmas is!

Even if it's not.