When was the last time you had a snow day? I had one last week and four this week. In my romantic notion of days gone by I envision snow days as maybe the best deal you could get. You go to sleep knowing there is some possibility of it happening, a snowstorm big enough to close the schools. You have trouble sleeping and instead of counting sheep you count possible inches of frozen precipitation. You know you need a significant accumulation. Six inches just won't do it. You finally fall asleep and then it's morning. You run to look out the nearest window out onto the street and you are either elated or disappointed. If there is enough snow you run to the TV to see if the "no school" great news was being broadcast.
My father was a sanitation man and when it snowed he would be gone for days as the city struggled to plow the streets. It was a good sign if he was long gone having left early to get to the district office. If the dream had come true it was the best kind of day off. Unexpected, so the teacher could not have given any work in advance.
Living in the city there were many kids on the block who would all be ready to take on the mountains of snow that were piled up at the corners of all our streets. You could build a fort or a tunnel or play king of the mountain. I was really good at that game. The snow, I remember, was always very wet. You would have to go in and change, intermittently, as you soaked up. Great times and rosy cheeks and snow ball fights that turned into throwing snowballs at cars and running like hell when the driver stopped. What fun. That was then.
What a difference a perspective makes.Teachers, I think would not begrudge themselves or their students having a free day to frolic in the snow or catch up on grading papers but after this last week and a half the only thing I can think of, is how do I make up all this lost time. Every teacher feels the ever-present tick tock of the curriculum requirements. You worry about losing the attention of the children that you thought you had before the storm.
Teaching, It seems to me is much like other things in life, in that you strive for some momentum and then try to keep it. Snow days do not help momentum. I also admit that I miss being around the kids. One thing about teaching, it keeps you very busy and the kids make being that busy OK. So I guess truth is, I miss my kids. My students. I hope they are having a great time and staying safe and dry. I also hope that they do the vocabulary worksheet I gave them before the storm. Lucky me. I hope that they don't forget the poems we all learned for the poetry contest that is now postponed. I hope I can catch up and be ready for, "To Kill a Mockingbird". I hope that from now on snow days won't come in bunches.
