My desk

I can't help it, but whenever I walk into another teacher's classroom or office, I examine their desk. Is it orderly? Chaotic? Does it fall in the genre of realism? Or is it like mine, totally abstract and surreal?

Right now, in the upper left corner is a bin full of papers awaiting evaluation/reading. To the right of that is a small stack of Ru Ready prompts from earlier today. They cover my Kleenex box, the DVD remote, several Expo dry erase markers, and another stack of rough drafts and peer edit sheets for students who have been gone. Near the edge of the middle of my desk are a set of speakers for my computer and ipod. Next to the left speaker is a volcanic rock a student brought me from a trip to Hawaii. Next to the rock is a Snapple cover. This is from a choir trip to New York I chaperoned three summers ago. A student opened it as we walked down Times Square and read the trivia on the back of the cover. It says, "Facetious is one of the only words in the English language to include all of the vowels in alphabetical order." As soon as the student read it, he ran up and gave it to me because I use the word facetious at least 10 times a day. Next to the cover is a Post-It Notes dispenser partially covered by a stack of College Comp outline forms. Also buried beneath the stack are my stapler and a Post-It Note stickies dispenser. To the right of that mess is a black mesh metal holder for pens, pencils, and highlighters. Next to that is a hand out from Bemidji State University with little book marks for students whom I think would be interested in English or writing. That lies on top of a laminated drawing Koko made this summer while we were getting my classroom ready. Now it waits for me to hang it on my wall. Finally in the upper right corner of my desk is my ever popular "Teachers Have Class" candy jar.

The bottom half of my desk is a similar disaster. Piled on the edge of my desk are new text books from McDougal Littell I need to examine as part of our new curriculum cycle. next to those is the book "My Favorite Horror Story" that I'm saving for my buddy Justin, whom I blogged about some time ago, and who is no longer in my class, but I see him in the hall once in awhile and I know he'll love this book. That book is on top of one of my 'Bibles' - "Building English Skills - the Yellow Level." This sucker taught me the ins and outs of grammar. I use this damned near every day whenever I have a dilemma or am typing up a worksheet. That book is stacked on top of the recent Time article I finally finished on how to get American schools out of the 20th century. Just to the right of that stack is another stack: catalogs of books and videos, the new English Journal, a copy of Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" and finally, on the very bottom, the newest Newsweek. Next to that is a mess of rubrics, assignment sheets, student essays, and rough drafts that beckon me. To the right of that, in the lower right corner of my desk, is my new MacBook. And that brings us to me. I should be doing something about this messy desk instead of blogging. But, truth be told (and this would drive Kristie nuts), I like the mess.

My desk and most of my corner of my room is an unquestionable disaster, but what I like about this disaster is that something interesting is always within reach. I can reach over to two tables that stand between my desk and the wall and grab a text on writing or teaching English. I have several novels (ones I have read and ones I will) close - "Catcher in the Rye," "The Year of Magical Thinking," "Paradise," "The Scarlet Letter," "The Picture of Dorian Gray," "The Traveling Vampire Show," and "Making Connections." All of this is in addition to the various magazines I keep piled up next to and below my computer. Right now I can look and see this month's "Poets & Writers" peeking out (I'm looking to get my thesis out somewhere), below that is yet another book, "The Reading and Writing Connection," and that is on top of what looks to be a Time magazine - yep, it is, just checked (it has a giant DNA strand that braids itself into a Rosary on the cover and says "God vs. Science"). I also see the bottom of an Anna Quindlen article in a December issue of Newsweek on the powers of memory and emotions around Christmas. Finally, I have copies and printouts from English Journal, Education Digest, and God knows what else piled up at my feet. I also see my Mystery Friday binder gathering dust. I also see copies students have made of their essays for me to save and reread later. There is also a stack of notebooks from various classes and conferences and inservices I have gone to. Wow. What a lot of crap.

But I wouldn't have it any other way. You know what, I think I'll actually get some work done.

But then again, there is a hell of a horror story called "The Pattern" by Ramsey Campbell in the book I was going to lend Justin. Maybe I can get it finished before College Comp . . .