Packing = time to reflect

Wow! I never realized how much stuff we had hoarded over the years! We're really trying to pare down as much stuff as possible since we'll be storing what we don't take to Saudi at our parents' houses. I've been channeling my inner "hoarding specialist" psychologist (a la TLC's Hoarders: Burried Alive) and really trying to decide if I want to keep this random article of nostalgia because I really need it, or because I really need the memory.

The Mister and I both need a quick refresher on what's supposed to go in the keep pile, and what's not. For him, it's T-shirts. He's got shirts from MIDDLE SCHOOL, and he doesn't want to part with them. Thankfully, God has given us the T-shirt quilt, and I think that's the compromise we need.

My weakness, apparently, is my old notebooks and textbooks from college. I haven't looked at them in over four years. I'm sure there are second and third editions of the books out by now--they're not even worth posting on half.com. There has only been one spiral notebook of notes from a class that I've thought about digging up to use as a reference for a lesson, but I never actually did.

But today, I found a justification for hanging on to these things. I found a notebook from a practicum in North Charleston my senior year. I was observing a teacher in a semi-middle class middle school and I remember being SO BORED watching her teach. I remember thinking she was better than the other teacher I was observing (who was painful to watch), but I actually listed ways I would have made her lessons more interesting. I remember looking around and seeing really bored students.

But today, when reading back over my notes, I realized that if a practicum student were in my classroom, they'd see basically the same thing. She had multiple transitions that went smoothly. Nothing lasted more than 15 minutes in her class, and they were all focused on the standards. She had review games, she used direct instruction with academic language...AND SHE WAS SO BORING.

I have become her, and I needed this shot in the pants to help me realize that I'm doing what I promised I wouldn't do. I need to step up my game big time in Saudi, especially since I'll be speaking a foreign language, and we all remember how engaging those classes were in high school.

See, Mister?! Hoarding can be good!

Vicariously yours,