Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Jean Jumpers and Apple Sweaters Are NOT An Option

Tomorrow (which will be today in about 18 minutes) is the first day of school. I have bulletin boards unfinished, syllabi to still type up, lesson plans to write, students to meet with, checklists to create, attendance records to fill in...needless to say, I am SO not ready.

Ready or not, it's here.

The REAL problem is...

I have NO IDEA WHAT I'M WEARING yet. How is that possible??? All week I've been thinking about what's in my closet and I just can't come up with an outfit that's perfect for the first day of school. This is a very important decision, you see. Or maybe you don't see.

What a teacher wears on the first day really does affect not only how the teacher feels about herself within the classroom, but also how the students view her. Is she serious? Fun? Stylish? Lazy? Immature? Not relevant? Kids pick up on these things...and clothes, whether we like to admit it or not, say a lot about a person. Wrinkles, heels, cardigans, panty-hose, stains, dress pants, t-shirts, short skirts, khakis, sandals, turtlenecks, high-water pants, fishnets, skirts, suits...all convey a message. Some good, some neutral, and some that are never okay regardless of age, sex, place of employment, race, or religion.

So much pressure.

I have something for the second day all picked out and ready to wear. Don't even ask how that works, how I have something for Thursday but not tomorrow. It's just that the shoes I want to wear will be too uncomfortable and not really practical for all the stuff going on tomorrow. AND I'm afraid it'll look like I'm trying too hard. You want to look like you care but not like you care too much. It's a tricky balance. Better to save it for the second or maybe even third day.

Arg.

I'm off to the closet to take another look. I have 5 hours to get it sorted out. I'll keep you posted on what I choose. Maybe. Unless I hate it. If I end up hating it, we will not be discussing this again.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You should just wear your clown suit and let the red noses fall where they may. Mom

Jeremy said...

You are absolutely hilarious! This whole discussion never would have occured to me on my first day, I'm sure.

Jen said...

Mom, you borrowed my clown suit and never returned it. :) By the way, my friend Jeremy made fun of me tonight about not being able to remember the name of something. The name I used was similar so after we got it all figured out he said, "It's like Apple Jacks." I've told him the story about Cracker Barrel.

Jeremy, I'm so happy you commented that I'm almost speechless. But not quite. :) This is a post that would be under the label "I'm such a girl."