This morning, after weeks of waiting for the county to get around to mounting my SmartBoard, I emailed my principal to see if I could do it myself.
Now, I must admit that the long wait time for the installation was not entirely not my fault. After all, I’d forgotten–for about two weeks–that the principal was waiting for me to tell him just where the Board was to be located. He actually had to come ask me about it, ultimately, since I’d forgotten he was awaiting my word.
So when I emailed the principal this morning, I couldn’t just say, “I’m sick and tired of waiting. I’ll do it myself.” Instead, I wrote that I was “very eager” for the Board and “confident” that I could hang it myself. “I’m fine with that,” he wrote back.
Two hours later, during my planning period, my shadow–a college student “exploring education” with me for the first time–and I bustled down to the custodians’ office and rustled up a drill, some screws, and a two-by-four abandoned by a building crew months ago to sit in the way of the lawnmower man, who was thrilled to pawn off the board to me.
At lunchtime I found a moment to start screwing things up, onto the wall. I measured, marked, and was just about to drill when in walked–guess who–the county’s SmartBoard installer man.
I now have a mounted SmartBoard that works wonders and was installed with grace and dignity.