Do you want to know a secret?

It's a big one, and something that teachers don't usually talk about, but I definitely mean it when I say that I LOATHE putting up bulletin boards.

I know. It's wrong. But I just can't stand it. I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that I am spatially challenged and that I never feel struck with creative genius when I am in the middle of creation, but I really reaaaaallyyyy hate them. So, the background colors and borders may very well never change for the entire year. I promise, however, to change the content attached to said backgrounds...................at least once ;-)

In other news, I finally received in the mail 32 Third Graders and One Class Bunny by Phillip Done. After reading the introduction, I thought I was going to cry. Done has a way of describing what it means to be a teacher with such sympathy. And I think the best part of this book for me is that he seems to be teaching in a very average classroom situation. Often teachers who write memoirs about teaching will write about their dramatically difficult situations in poor public schools with students who have next to nothing and with administration that probably cannot even spell the word supportive. This book, however, describes the plight of the everyday teacher - the teacher who has a good mixture of challenges and positive teacher moments on a daily basis, one who makes mistakes and learns from them, one who has piles of paper lying everywhere and uses sarcasm in the classroom and tries to be too direct on report cards.

I've only read about 1 quarter of the book so far, but I am seriously considering recommending this book as homework for the parents in my class this year. I think a lot of parents, especially in the neighborhood where I will be teaching, look down on our profession as something very simple. Phillip Done's book might give these folks an inside look into what an average teacher's life is really like. I could use that sympathy from parents, I'm sure.