Lost and Found

Last week was the last week of school. And this year I actually picked up some days. Amazing.

On Tuesday, I only had periods 1 & 2. It was finals week. They were on a block schedule. But these classes took their finals the prior week, so the class was pretty much done.

Jacob was not happy to see me. It wasn't me especially that he didn't like. He just really needed to see his teacher.

See, back in December, Mr. D confiscated a set of Uno cards from Jacob. And Jacob wanted them back.

We searched the room for them, but we were unable to find them. I gave Jacob Mr. D's email address so he could get in touch with him (every teacher's district email address is similarly constructed, and this address is readily available to the parents) and I let him know that Mr. D would be back on the last day of school. While Jacob wouldn't have to attend Mr. D's class, he would be on campus and could touch base with him then.

Towards the end of 2nd period, a senior came by to return some things to Mr. D. And she had a book to return to a student in 4th period. (If we weren't on a block schedule, it would have been 4th period and she would have seen him.) So, I put a Post-It note on the book and labeled it "James: period 4" so I wouldn't forget to return the book.

Sure enough, on Wednesday I remembered the book. James gave me the strangest look when I handed it to him. I explained that the senior girl had found it in her backpack and wanted to get it back to him.

James then explained his reaction. He had just paid for that book. (It was a library copy of The Catcher in the Rye.) He thought it was lost.

The other students urged him to return it anyway. Maybe the library would give him his money back. And as we weren't actually doing anything in class, I gave James permission to go right then.

James returned 20 minutes later. Yes, they would issue him a refund. In a couple days. Well, that's better than being out the cash, right?

On Wednesday I learned that Mr. D needed Thursday off as well. So, Jacob was not pleased to see me again bright and early before school Thursday morning. We did another search of the room.

Mr. D had never responded to the student's email. Sigh. I guess he was busy with other things.

Mr. D had left me a cell phone number. So, I texted him. (I don't like to bother teachers when they're out, but this seemed like the thing to do considering the circumstances.) Jacob went to his 5th & 6th period classes. I got a text back sometime during 6th period (which I didn't see until after school--I keep my cell phone put away during class time).

I located the Uno cards. They were under the sink, under a dust bunny. Ick. Ah well.

Jacob returned after school, and I had something to return to him. He was very happy. (Apparently, he had a "vintage" set of cards. From the '80s.)

It's nice when I can return things to their rightful owners.

Lost Notebook

I don't lose things. (Well, most of the time. I somehow managed to misplace my compact umbrella, just in time for rainy weather.) When I do lose track of something, it usually turns up later (socks especially).

Students lose things all the time. Supposedly, subs lose students' work (although, I think this is sometimes just a ploy). That's why some teachers don't have us collect work. Of course, these teachers aren't familiar with my knack for not losing things.

But I digress. Today I wanted to talk about students' notebooks that went missing.

Every student was issued a notebook. They do all their work in it. Since this is the continuation high school, the students aren't apt to remember to bring stuff to class, like paper and pencil. As long as the student has a notebook, the student can do the work, and it keeps it all together.

At the beginning of the period, the students retrieve their notebooks from the class' box. They return the notebook to the box at the end of the period.

A student in period 2 couldn't find his notebook. It wasn't in the box.

I'm a firm believer in the it-has-to-be-here theory, so I was bound and determined to find the notebook. We searched through the other classes' boxes. We searched the teacher's desk (he had a pile of them set aside for grading). After going through every stack of notebooks, I went back to period 2's box, pulled out all the notebooks still in there...and found it. It had gotten stuck behind another notebook.

My record was again challenged in 3rd period. This time I started with period 3's box, but it wasn't in there. I told the student to go through the other classes' boxes. Turns out the first box I picked up had it shoved somewhere in the middle.

Yeah, I'm good. Now, if I could just find that umbrella!