Switching bags and other reflections on the end of the first week

I made it through my first week! Yesterday, I got a call from Matt (my roommate for going on 4 years now who is also doing TFA) as I was driving to school. He called to tell me that he realized we had each other’s bags. Wait, let’s pause for a second.

One of the perks for working for Atlanta Public Schools (APS) is that they give us a laptop as well as these black rolling bags. So each day, I take my black rolling bag and my laptop to school. Matt does the same thing, and our bags – just like all the other bags – look exactly the same.

Okay, back to the story. So, Matt calls me and says that he thinks we switched bags. I have a 20-25 minute drive to work, whereas Matt lives about 2 minutes from his school. He asked if we could meet up somewhere, but I told him that there was no way that I could turn around since I was like 2 minutes from my school, couldn’t go back because of potential traffic, and I didn’t want to be late. He said he’d call me back to see if we had switched computers as well. As I was pulling into the school parking lot, he texted me and said that we had also switched computers. I told him that I didn’t need my laptop for the day, and I actually had my materials for my lessons on a clipboard in this other APS hand bag that I take to work each day (I also pack my lunch in it). He said that he thought he would be fine, too. He ended up sending me a text later in the day saying that he had to wing a lesson but he come up with a great way to teach 3rd graders how to identify a complete sentence. On the other hand, I spent some awkward time in the library looking up stuff on a computer next to some students—as if I didn’t look enough like them already. All in all, I thought it was funny that we switched bags, and nothing terrible happened. I think we are going to label our bags though.

In other news, Friday was a Friday. I went into a classroom during my planning period to briefly cover for a teacher. As soon as I walked in, all these boys started laughing and saying “Marcus!” I laughed a little and then smiled and said that I had met “Marcus,” but that they could address me as Mr. Seegars. They were good kids, and it was still the middle of the day, so all was good.

By the time I got to my last class, I was in no mood to play games. I had to pick up a few cellphones even though I warned the students to put them away. I had to take two kids to the back of the room to talk to them. So, yes, it was a Friday. But, hey, it was the end of the first week, and it was a good week.

When I was a student, I had no idea that teachers wanted to jet after school for the weekend just like we did. As I left the school yesterday, my pace continuously quickened to the point that I was basically jogging in the parking lot in order to get to my car as fast as I could. Don’t get me wrong: I enjoy my job, and I’m looking forward to Monday; however, at that time, I was ready to get out of there. But, like I said: so far, so good. The hardest thing for me right now is probably relearning a lot of the math. It’s not as hard as I remember it being, though, and I am still enjoying math a lot more than I ever thought I would.

Until next time, peace.