Teachers Accumulate a Lot of Weird Things

Summary

A retiring teacher reflects on the eclectic collection of items accumulated over 25 years in the classroom, ranging from food and outdated teaching materials to odd trinkets and office supplies.

Abstract

As the teacher prepares for retirement, the process of cleaning out the classroom reveals a treasure trove of items that reflect a career spent teaching high school students. The collection includes expired snacks, decades-old lesson plans, vintage magazines, and an assortment of office supplies in various states of disrepair. The teacher humorously ponders over the rationale behind saving such items and reminisces about the days when textbooks were in vogue. Despite the amusing discoveries, the teacher acknowledges that the true keepsakes are the intangible memories, love, and joy shared with students over the years.

Opinions

The teacher recognizes their own tendency to hoard items, questioning their inclination to keep everything they've ever used.
There is a sense of nostalgia and humor in the teacher's reflections on the items found, particularly when considering the age and usefulness of certain objects.
The teacher expresses a fondness for the past, notably the use of textbooks and the value of physical teaching materials, which are now considered obsolete.
A touch of sentimentality is evident as the teacher prioritizes the emotional and experiential aspects of teaching—such as memories and student interactions—over the physical items being discarded.
The teacher seems to have a practical approach to teaching, using food as a motivational tool for students and appreciating the utility of items like calendars and planners, despite the need to declutter.

Cleaning out after twenty-five years

Teachers are natural hoarders. As I prepare to retire this year after twenty-five years in the classroom, cleaning out files, closets, and cabinets has been an eye-opening experience and has led me to question my apparently profound desire to keep everything I ever touched.

My classroom is fairly small. I have one closet, one small cabinet with two shelves, two four-drawer file cabinets, and one two-drawer file cabinet. My classroom also has a couple of bookcases that house my classroom library and one smaller bookcase that holds my texts and reference materials.

It really does not seem like a lot. Until you start cleaning it out.

1. Food. I teach high-school students. Kids are always hungry and kids will do almost anything you ask if you give them a bag of Hot Cheetos: pass out papers, deliver things to the office, read Shakespeare…they’ll work for food. After a closet cleanout, I found three packages of gummy Life Savers, two Hostess apple pies, a bag of popcorn, and a few mini Snickers bars, age undetermined.

2. Files of things you thought you would teach but never did: why did I ever think I would teach Pride and Prejudice to high-school sophomores? Or Jane Eyre? Why do I still have files of tests handwritten on mimeograph stencils from the teacher before me?

3. Back issues of Literary Cavalcade magazine. Hey, it was a great magazine! There are some real gems in there. Maybe I should sell them on eBay.

4. Countless dried-up markers, many without tops.

5. One box of green, white, and silver Mardi gras beads. I think I was going to decorate with these or make a bulletin board.

6. Preview copies of literature books from textbook adoption years. Now that textbooks are obsolete, these are pretty cool. I miss textbooks.

7. Calendars and planners going back ten years. Throw.That.Mess.Away.

8. Coffee mugs. How many coffee mugs have I received through the years? A bazillion.

9. Dead batteries of all sizes.

10. A twenty-year-old cough drop, still in the wrapper.

11. Fun-Tac. Balls of it, scraped from the walls, and packages never opened.

The cleanout continues — I have forty-four more days of school and there’s no need to rush this. And after all, the most important things will be coming home with me, and that will be the memories and the love, and the fun we have had in M205 for the past twenty-five years.