Saved By The Bell

A teacher's life is ruled by bells. There are days that I feel like a mouse in a maze where the gate has been lifted and the bell has rung. The poor little mouse races furiously to the finish line where a big hunk of cheese is waiting. The amazing thing about the mouse is that the bell is what sets it off. It is conditioned by the sound and the vibration that sends a message "make the finish line or else." A teacher feels pretty much the same way. A warning bell sounds in the morning for the students to get ready to line up. A second bell announces school has begun and all should be in order. Then it is another bell before potty breaks are allowed. We file out, and race before the next bell announces the break is complete. There are bells for fire drills. These bells tell us to march like soldiers without a sound and listen for the bell that lets us know we can resume normal activity. A bell says "lunch is over". Another bell rings for a second potty break. \Second race for the two stall bathroom with a staff of over thirty teachers. Sometimes a bell will prepare us for a disaster drill and we crouch under our desks and pray it will never be the real thing. The last bell of the day is the beloved "school is over" bell and we all heave a sigh of relief until the next day when all the bells and programming starts again. One can be confused and puzzled if the bell is late, or early. We don't know what to do? We are so conditioned to start in motion at certain times of the day, we feel like we are cheating if the bell is not doing its thing at the appropriate moment. There are blank looks and zombie movements down the pavement anyway, just because we know the drill and we are conditioned by the bell. On the weekends freedom from bells is a priority. I hate a schedule, I hate having to do something in any two hour chunk of time. I want to go to the bathroom whenever I feel like it, and eat lunch whenever I feel like it. By Monday, I have to retrain my bladder and my hunger, because the bell hasn't rung and I have to wait until the finish line. Just like the mouse, I can reach the cheese. Each day I know I make it. As the students file out, there is a certain satisfaction about planning a lesson in one hour and thirty-five minutes and knowing deep down your students grasped the concept just before the bell rang!