School Supplies

11 August 2011

I was walking through Walmart yesterday, and the first thing I noticed were signs.  Everywhere.  For school supplies.  CHEAP school supplies.  In buckets.  And boxes.  And large quantities. 

Needless to say, I was a bit overwhelmed!

Let me explain.  For one, this was my first time at Walmart in a VERY long time.  After spending a couple of years looking for cheaply-made mini Buzz Lightyear pencil sharpeners for possible classroom prizes in little dukas all over Dar es Salaam, school supplies in bins like this seem like a dream come true!  But also, last year at this time my mom was searching for class sets of similarly-coloured plastic folders to send me in Tanzania.  And she and the clerk were discussing just how easily we take the ability to access things for granted in the States.

(Two-pocket folders are just an American thing, by the way.  The British have never heard of this before, or don’t care to use them, or something.  So I imported my own.  Plastic, so hopefully they'll last for years to come.  The only issue is that the British (and their prior colonies) use A4 paper, which is narrower and taller than our American 8½ x 11” printer paper.  So our writing folders looked a bit haphazard in grade 3 with papers hanging out of the tops.  But then again, what third grader's folder doesn't look a little messy, anyway?)

Back to school supplies.  In bins.  This time of year always brings a bit of excitement for the upcoming school year… new faces, a fresh start, a whole year ahead with chances to adapt old ideas and make new ones.  It’s a time of hope, joy, and looking forward to great things happening (as well as savoring the last few days of “freedom” while you create materials by hand in your own home for the classroom, as opposed to doing the same thing at a desk that comes up to your knees…)

But this year, I’m finding the “School Supply Sales” experience to be... surreal.  For one, I’m in transition myself.  I’m also preparing to go back to "school" myself (masters).  But, most importantly, for the first time since before I received my teaching license, I’m NOT preparing my own classroom for kids.

It’s been interesting to realize just how much I have based my identity on my teacherhood.  Yes, I know I am many, many things besides a teacher.  This “job” does not, by definition, explain who I am.  And yet, when people ask what I do, I reply “teacher.”  What do I like?  Kids.  Kids books.  Being crafty.  Finding fun ways to teach concepts in ways that little people will understand.  Getting a hundred and ten hugs every day.  (Along with a few other things, of course!)

So with all this, it’s been a struggle to NOT buy crayons.  NOT spend hours in a musty, moldy, hot room filled with dust from over the summer as I try to create the best seating arrangement for my incoming class.  NOT trying to figure out how to say kid’s names from 32 or so different countries.  NOT talking with other teachers and using all my end-of-the-year great ideas from last year to make this year off to an even better start.  And NOT finding my identity in what I do, but in who I am.  And in who the great I AM says He’s made me to be!