Last week was a crazy week, not only because I have several projects in the works (career day, spirit week, and a week-long interdisciplinary unit) but because our lead teacher was out sick and put me in charge…YIKES! On Wednesday we took a field trip to the Indianapolis Children’s Museum without the lead teacher.

The reason for taking a trip to the Children’s museum was to see a show in the planetarium. The show lasted a half hour and we were there from 11-3. The trip was planned by our new science teacher, and was very unorganized. Nothing terrible happened, but a lot of little things an add up to a stressful day. For example, the kids had not been split up into groups, a lunch count had not been turned in, there was no schedule for the day, etc. About 10 minutes before we were supposed to load up the buses, one of the counselors came to yell at the JA teachers because we were not allowing the kids who had just turned in their permission slips that morning to go on the filed trip.

We finally made it to the buses and left about a half hour late. The show was boring, the kids hated it and were completely obnoxious in the planetarium. The science teacher who planned the trip kept disappearing to smoke so I had to keep track of my group of 10 kids, his group of 10 kids, and him. The security guards were following our kids around because they were a bit rowdy. Needless to say I was feeling very stressed and grumpy.

Upstairs in the science section of museum there is a water exhibit where the kids can maneuver different canals, pumps, and levers. I was guarding the entrance of the exhibit to make sure no one escaped, and honestly feeling quite miserable and sorry for myself. All of the sudden, I hear kids screaming, “Mrs. W! Look, its a canal lock!!” I could have cried right there in the science works section. About two weeks before this, the kids had learned that the Chinese invented the canal lock to improve their trade routes. The kids remembered that and recognized it in the “real” world. I was so excited; they spent a half hour taking boats through the canal lock trying to get them through without tipping. My whole attitude changed. Sometimes it is easy to forget that we do it all for the kids. It is not about what I want or how I feel, what’s important is that the kids are learning and experiencing new things. I do what I do to further the future generation and see those kids smile.

Even though all the kids were standing outside in the freezing cold waiting while the buses were 15 minutes late picking us up, and even though the science teacher disappeared again, it turned out to be a pretty good day.