An exciting time to witness history

Today Barrack Obama takes the oath to protect and enforce the U.S. Constitution. This oath allows our republic to long endure. It is indeed heady, exciting stuff.

In light of this significant moment, teachers across the district open their day with assignments focused on the inauguration and America.

Miss Firstyear spends hours planning an integrated lesson teaching the objectives of combining sentences within a short story, weaving into the 45-minute period biology and politic science objectives in a project-based activity. She can’t wait to deliver her award-winning lesson.

At the same moment as President Obama stands outside the West Wing to deliver his inauguration speech, Miss Firstyear stands outside of the classroom, welcoming students in the hall:

“Good morning!”

“Huh? Do we have a bell assignment today?”

“Yes, just like everyday”.

“Can we get a new seating assignment? I don’t like sitting next to Joe.”

“No, we can get along with everyone.”

“I lost my bell assignments from last week. Do you have a copy I can borrow?”

“No. Just do today’s bell”.

“I forgot my homework. Can I go to my locker?”

“No. Go inside the classroom and get started.”

The bell in the hall rings and Miss Firstyear ushers the last student in from the hall and begins to take attendance as the students continue to complete the bell assignment, “Compare the plot line of an inauguration to the plot line of any short story. List the similarities and differences.”

“Miss Firstyear?”

“Yes?”

“I think I was absent that day.”

“What day?”

“The inauguration day”.

“That is today.”

“Oh, then the day we read a short story”.

“That was yesterday.”

“Oh. Maybe I was in the bathroom.”

The door opens and a student bounces in and announces, “I am late.” The class claps.

“Class, that is not how we behave with tardies. Lydia, please come here. Why are you late?”

“Our car wouldn’t start, so I had to wait for a taxi.”

“Well, I am glad you made it. Sit down; we are just about ready to go over the bell.”

The loudspeaker in the class interrupts. “Teachers, please excuse the interruption. Bus 44 will be arriving shortly. Please admit these students into your class.”

“44 is always late. I think that bus driver must drive really slow.”

“Drive slowly. Class, share with your partner your answers to the bell.”

“I didn’t answer it. I was late.”

“Hey! Joe is in my seat”.

“Joe, please go to your seat. I know you were late, listen to your partner’s reaction. What?”

“Lisa moved. Why can’t I sit in her seat from now on?”

“Lisa moved? When?”

“This weekend. I think to Oregon.”

“Oh. That was sudden. Well, move to your original seat for now. N.O.W. Now, Joe.”

“Can I go to the bathroom?”

“May I, and no.”

The loudspeaker interrupts. “Teachers please excuse the interruption. This is a lock-down. Lock-down!”

“What about bus 44?”

Miss Firstyear watches her grand lesson dissolve before her eyes in the dark room: the integration, the essential question and the intricacies of prepositions, lost. Why did she even try? That elusive ideal of making a difference? The notion that kids need to learn so much more to live in their complicated world? June and July?

A shriek interrupts her thoughts. “Shh. Quit tickling each other.”

“This is hopeless,” she thinks, “ahh, hope, it must be hope.”

Thousands of miles away, President-elect Obama finishes his last lines of inspiration while the class waits for the all call.

“Teachers, please excuse the interruption. Students, you did an awesome job. Lock-down drill is complete. Thank you.”

“Cool! Bus 44!” Four students enter the room.

“OK, please pass your homework to the front and get out your textbook and turn to page 120.”

“My homework is stuck in my locker. It is jammed again.”

“What about the bell assignment?”

“Later; we will get back to it.”

“I need to go to the bathroom.”

“Can you hold it? Only five more minutes of class.”

“Page 120 what?”

“Just 120.”

“Oh.”

“Oh. Ohhh.” Miss Firstyear rubs her forehead.

“What’s wrong Miss Firstyear?”

“Just readjusting, that is all.”

“Readjusting? What does that mean?”

“Is it like redeployment? ‘Cuz my dad just left again.”

“Hey, is that a vocab word? Because if it is, I think I was absent that day.”

Mr. President, we feel your energy and know your struggles first hand. Like you, our intent is true.

The broken economy is late or missing from our classrooms with broken cars, lost homes and jammed lockers. We react daily to the terrorism you fight, safeguarding children in memory of our own personal attack in Littleton, Colo., two years before the nation’s Nine-Eleven. Our parents are deployed to far away lands. We know the interruptions real life brings.

We have much in common today. We believe in the power of knowledge and the role of the knowledgeable. We respect the Constitution. We believe that all men are created equal, and we have faith that all children can learn. We never give up.

Best wishes, President Obama. Good luck, Miss Firstyear. Teach and lead us well. May everyone show up, on time, and prepared to work.

Emily Forstner is the professional development coordinator for Mat-Su Borough School District.