It's Time To Clock In!

Yes, it is that time again!  Time for teachers, aides, bus drivers, parents, all of us with an interest in the education of someone younger than us and likely put in our care, to "clock in".  Many have already done so.  As I post, many school system have likely been in session for at least a week and are taking a Labor Day break.  I work for a school system that brings us back to do as much preparing as we can before the big day.  Our students will come back on Tuesday.  Bless their hearts.....

For those of you who may just be getting to know me, "bless their hearts" or "God love 'em" are two phrases I use interchangeably when speaking of someone who may need a little breathing room in life due to a certain quirk or annoyance.  It is a way I give myself permission to feel aggravated, but not guilty.  We all are always glad to see the students, but with them comes 180+ days of intense planning, reflection, and concern. Many will be the hardest little workers we have ever met, and some will not.  Some will have parents who are right on top of everything, some will not. So, be that as it may, bless their hearts.

I used the term "clock in" when I talked about starting the year.  This actually has two roots.  I come from many years of educational exposure, but not always as a teaching professional.  I began as an aide just for fun a few hours a week at my children's elementary school.  I learned more there than one can possibly imagine.  The knowledge of the little things like the copy room, bathroom breaks, sharing v. stealing, the value of a minute, all this and more gave me a firm foundation in education.  There are always great aides at the schools in which I work, and the real treasures take their roles just as seriously as the teachers.  In fact, when I began as the medication aide at our elementary school, there was an aide there who had been MY aide in elementary school years before.  She knew the ropes, and believe me, no one stepped on her ropes! 

One of the most demanding roles of these aides in my first job was to make copies for the teachers.  In this school of 400+ children, there was one high-volume copier and everyone had a designated time to use it.  I remember going back to the copy area, thankfully not part of the medication aide's job, to get a drink out of the machine.  The aide I had known since childhood was copying her heart out while another aide kept impatiently peeking around the corner to check and see when she was done.  She finally asked, "When will you be done?"  Her answer was classic....."June!"  I loved it.  So much so that when my husband Jerry asked me once when he was not quite schooled on being the husband of a teacher, "when will you be done?"  I of course, emphatically replied, "June!"

Needless to say, he knows now, we "clock in" during August, and try to "clock out" in June.  It's a dirty job, but as they say, somebody's gotta do it!