The School Bell Has a New Ring in My Home This Year

By: Tom Crabtree | News Channel 7
Published: August 07, 2009 | 0 Comments | Post a Comment

For the first time since 2000, Gayle and I are not buying back-to-college items for our daughters.

With Kayla's graduation this past May and Lauren's graduation earlier, both our girls have their degrees from Clemson University, and we are super proud of them. Watching each of them cross the stage inside Littlejohn Coliseum and receive their diplomas ranks among the great moments in my life.

But it also means no more mountains of school supplies to buy!

Right?

Wrong!

Kayla had the great blessing of landing a job with Spartanburg School District Two as an english teacher at Boiling Springs Junior High School. With orientation this week, she is on the clock and earning her first fulltime paycheck.

But as I'm learning, teachers need stuff.

And it's not just pens and papers.

Kayla is at the stage of getting her classroom ready. I'm sure a teacher's classroom is their castle, and each teacher puts considerable thought, effort and resources into decorating their room and making it a place that inspires students to learn.

The school district provides some funding for supplies, but I expect Kayla will chip in her own money, and Gayle and I will add to it as well.

It's a great investment, I believe.

One of Kayla's projects will be to create a reading corner in her classroom. Besides books, it will also have chairs that young people hopefully will find inviting to curl up and read great literature.

Today we went through some of the things Kayla had boxed when she moved back home to find items for her desk.

We found her William Shakespeare "bobble-head." I'm sure wigglin' Bill will have a prominent place.

I think teaching is one of our most honorable professions. Kayla has several relatives who have been educators too. I know of at least one aunt and two first cousins on my side of the family who were teachers.

Go get 'em, Kayla. Fill those young minds with appreciation for great books, creative writing and proper grammar.

And if you find grammatical errors in my scripts, do us all a favor, and point them out.