Trinkets

I remember in 3rd grade, I brought my Game Gear to school one day. You remember Game Gear, right? Essentially, it was Sega Genesis in the palms of your hand and had really crappy graphics. Then again, back then 8bit was the cat's meow, so I won't harp too much on that.

Anyway, I brought it to school with the sole intention of getting attention. See, we didn't have Show-and-Tell at my elementary school so we did not have many opportunities to show off. We took it upon ourselves to bring whatever we could to increase our social status. This one kid brought his state championship baseball trophy. Another brought his black belt in karate. But, being a child that participated in gymnastics and eating eight tacos in one sitting I didn't really have much to contribute.

Hence, the Game Gear. And let me tell you, I was hot shit for about three days. The boys begged to play with it during recess, ever so carefully shielding it from our teachers who would most definitely confiscate it. When the recess bell would ring, we would race to the jungle gym, hide behind the giant Tic-Tac-To game board (WTF) and eviscerate our mighty enemies in Mortal Kombat. God, we LIVED.

When my mother found out that I brought it to school, though, I was forbidden from playing with it for a month and was given a stern talking to about "responsibility" and "taking care of our personal items." My 26 year old self agrees wholeheartedly while my 8 year old self was severely pissed.

3rd grade Mr. Vest: "How in the world will I get the other boys to think I'm cool, mom?!"

Mom: "Do a cartwheel."

Touche.

This bring me to the present day: In all my years of teaching (and if you know we well, that's an eternity right?) I have never had a class that was more obsessed with bringing random stuff to school. I'll focus on two of them.

"Jay" is very tiny and enjoys chess. He also loves to lie and kick other children when I'm not looking. A doll, I tell you. Little Jay loves to construct his own cell phones out of paper clips, aluminum foil and Chex Mix. He does this so he can contact people in other "realms" (his word, not mine). Now, I shouldn't care that he does this, but I do. Because he tends to construct said cell phones while I'm giving a lesson and I'm such a captivating public speaker that it is silly he doesn't pay attention. In addition to cell phones, he carries nine books at a time that he stacks so high that they are bound to topple on his little, odd shaped head.

Yesterday, he brought his own personal pencil sharper that became magnetized to his desk. I didn't see him bring it in, but just like a rabbit out of a hat it simply appeared.

"I brought this here personal pencil sharper because it complements my desk."

"Complements your desk? You are nine years old."

"Your point being, sir?"

Then there is "Aaliyah." Aaliyah likes to bringing anything sparkly and fashionable because she needs to keep up with the changing fashion scene. She also greatly enjoys wearing corsages. In her hair. Especially in P.E.

Aaliyah went through this phase where she brought in magnets that formed different designs when put together. Like Little Jay, she tended to play with these items during my class so they would be taken away from her. What she didn't know was that while the kids were gone I too began playing with the magnets and immediately saw the appeal. You could make them into PENGUINS. OR A MOOSE.

Maybe it's because they are bored with me, or maybe it's because they are ADD but nothing will stop them from bringing little trinkets in to make it through the day.

Though, I understand where they are coming from....and it's things like this that make them unique and remind me how fortunate I am to have a classroom full of weirdos.

It complements me.