At the end of each class I do a quick walk around my room. OMG - so much stuff gets left behind.
Naturally, a few kids leave their homework behind. (They’ll probably tell me tomorrow that I never gave it to them).
There are pens and pencils all over the place. Some are from my loaner bins (Would it kill you to just put them back?). Some are mechanical pencils that are out of lead (You know they can be refilled and reused, right?) and some have just been dropped by mistake as their owner walks away. (Can a pencil look lonely?)
There is so much paper I could reassemble a small tree by the end of the day. Some is from my class - Do Nows, Exit Tickets, class work, returned work and more. Some is from other classes. I seem to find a lot of math worksheets left behind. (I suspect these kids are telling their math teacher “You never gave it to me.”)
At the end of each day, I take all the water bottles that have been forgotten, dump them out, water my plants then toss the empties in the recycling bin. Sometimes, I find a brand new, unopened water bottle. (Thank you!)
And the clothing - so many shirts, hoodies, coats and sweaters. I leave them on the water bottle table until I get sick of looking at them, then bring them to the lost and found near the office.
Books, binders, sneakers, toys, erasers, and other random stuff - It all gets left behind. (Do you ever get home and wonder “Where the heck is my green Gatorade bottle?”)
Maybe we should start attaching your possessions to your body.
We can duct-tape your library books to your arms, strap that binder onto your back, staple the homework to your shirt, and superglue your sneakers onto your feet. It might not be comfortable, but you’d hang on to everything (whether you want too or not).
