September 14th, 2016

An Apple for the Teacher

So, one of my classes, research methods, is in the Psychology building.  The Psych and Journalism buildings are the ugliest ones on campus, but I was a Journalism student in the 70s and now have a class in the Psych building this year. I have fond memories and it’s nice to have a post-modern classroom.

All the rooms have whiteboards and dry erase markers.  For the first 3 weeks of class, I think the professor went through a dozen markers that were in the room. On the Wednesday after Labor Day, I had enough.  I couldn’t read what he was writing and that’s a problem when you are taking notes.

So I pulled out my iPhone, opened the Amazon app and ordered a package of dry erase markers. It was very hard for me to avoid the metallic pack–it was so cool–but I stuck with traditional colors. When I got back from Labor Day weekend, they had arrived.  I told my husband I was taking them into class on Wednesday and he said, “What, don’t they give apples to teachers anymore?” Very funny.

What was even funnier, as I was waiting in the hall, the cinder block institutionally colored hall, one of my colleagues from the back row came up and he had bought a pack of markers for the teacher, too. What to do?

Easy! I put my package on the desk and I got there first.  I know, juvenile, but I don’t know what came over me.  I wanted to use the apple for the teacher line. I was momentarily 18 again and wanted to get credit for what I did. Without a lot of conversation, I achieved my goal–notes I could actually read on the board and my colleague got to keep his markers for another day.