New Desks!

I returned from spring break to find my classroom filled with new desks. This has made me unaccountably joyful, as I will no longer have to warn teenage boys that the desk will in fact break if they continue to sit on it that way. My old desks had the broken spirits of desks worn down by years of teenage abuse. On occasion, they tossed a 16 year old on his bootie, always entertaining for the class, though not always conducive to learning. The new desks are nice and shiny and quite durable. The students feel that I am unreasonably happy about them, guarding them like a mama watching over her flock of chicks. I am most happy that there is no basket underneath them, which I have foolishly persuaded myself means that no one will leave their books, jackets, or purses behind in my class. And I won't miss the sound of metal grinding against metal, because the desk has been rocked backward one too many times.

Clearly, I am a hopeless idealist.