Safety First~

During my first year at my current school, I was a fish out of water and miserable with the change. I was teaching a first grade class when I had been hired for Kindergarten, and wasn't exactly 'feeling the love' from the Queen of First Grade.

I focused on these kids and worked late hours to ensure they got exactly what they needed academically. I tried to ignore the climate of the school and tended only to my own classroom. This is how I got through the year.

One day, the kids did a wonderful job with an art project. The pictures were beyond awesome and I told them so - then I decided to hang them up. It was one of those afternoons in which everybody was working quietly and on-task - so I took advantage and began pinning up the artwork.

There was a spot over the window PERFECT for the remaining pictures but very inaccessible without breaking every safety law ever enacted by a school. But I was adamant about getting those pictures up so I decided to step up on the chair and then up onto the table.

Then came the part next to the "over the window" section - it was above the sink.

"Teacher, you be careful!" warned Stephanie. I think she even wagged her finger.

"Yeah," echoed several of her classmates. I assured them that I would, of course, be careful.

I stepped onto the chair, up to the scooted-over table, and then up onto the sink area. I hung the last of the pictures with a grunt of satisfaction. They were all watching me at this point, so I hammed it up a bit, throwing my arms up and shouting, "I'm King of the World!"

Most of them laughed but a few just shook their heads and kept working. My silliness was a constant source of embarrassment to those few - although I often found them cracking a smile when they thought I wasn't looking.

I stepped down to the chair, but missed it - whacking my back on the sink area, hitting the table, and landing on my a$$ with a huge "umpft" - the wind knocked out of me.

I lay there stunned - the children didn't miss a beat. They rushed over to me, and knelt down. They were noticeably upset, and a few of them tried to tug me upright while others clambored onto the table to peer over at me and make sure I was alive.

I kept hearing, "Are you okay, are you okay?" from the group. The room was dead silent. I struggled to sit up and say something teacherly.

Then Stephanie pushed her way through the kneeling students, put her hand on shoulder, peered into my face, waved her free arm and said, "I TOLD YOU TO BE CAREFUL, didn't I?"

:-)K