Today, Monday, September 19th I took the opportunity this afternoon to just sit in my classroom, at the end of the day, after everyone was on their way home, to enjoy the silence!

Some days, alright most days, my classroom is loud. Really loud. Rock concert loud! Today especially!! You know that humming, ringing sound you get in your ears after leaving a concert, and you tolerate it as a badge of honor because you had so much fun it was totally worth it. And thank goodness you don’t go to concerts every day.

Well I do! And the band playing…my students!

Sometimes I wish I had a way to measure decibels, but the information is probably depressing and will prove that the levels are dangerously high (and I know that already). And, I have no doubt in my mind that I will some day need hearing aides. (My family thinks I need them now!)

But back to the silence enjoyment…days like today feel like they will never end. When parents drop their children off and they are already screaming, and they just don’t stop. At all. The entire day. There is just no getting around it feeling like a ridiculously long day. So I decided today, instead of jumping right into cleaning and preparing for tomorrow, I would collapse into my desk chair (it was nice to actually sit in it for the first time today) and reflect on surviving the day. My room can be quiet and peaceful.

Then I remembered I can’t drink wine in my classroom, so I went about cleaning and putting away today’s mess, set out what I could for tomorrow, and now I am at home armed with my scissors and my laminator!