WOW. Look at this picture. We used to be able to have school in our classrooms! Amazing.
When I was about seven years old, our family got a new refrigerator. I really didn't care about the fridge, but I was mesmerized by the box. It was huge. It had such potential. It could be a house! A hiding place. My fort. A store. A boat. The possibilities were endless. My dad let my sister and I play with it for a few days, and then it disappeared, but I have never forgotten it. I thought it was one of the neatest "toys" I ever had.
So the other week, when it was still safe to be around other humans (or maybe it wasn't so safe?) ; I walked out of my classroom into the all-purpose room, and there, I beheld a big BOX. Just like my old refrigerator box. Evidently a new trash can had arrived in it.
"May I have it?" I asked the principal.
"Sure!" was the answer. I didn't even get a funny look.
So, I told my eighth grade students that they could bring it into our room and do whatever they wanted with it as long as it didn't interrupt class, and as long as it was out in the dumpster on trash day.
Two of the more adventuresome, creative gentlemen snagged it, and one of them asked if he could put it over his desk. Of course, I gave my approval. So, for two days, there was a boy in a box in my classroom.
He and his friend cut an entrance door in the back and two slots in the sides so that he could see me while I was teaching. He could also "raise" his hand, and the slots served well for when we "trade and grade" on vocabulary tests and literature quizzes.
On Friday, the two funny friends obediently took The Box out to the dumpster, and I must admit that I felt a little bit melancholy to see it go. Bye-bye box. (Bye-bye school. For now.)
