Jackpot! Summer is half over for me[1], so naturally it’s time to start working on classroom stuff.

Today, I visited teacher heaven — or, as it’s properly known, the Jim Cherry Teacher Center. Employees of my school system get a $3 credit every visit. And with prices like poster board for $0.15 or laminating for $0.25/ft, you get a lot for your money. Private school teachers are welcome, too! Not in the metro Atlanta area? Chances are really good your public school system offers something similar.

Lookit what I have access to:

  • laminators
  • poster printer
  • sample instructional games
  • letter/die cutters
  • ribbon maker
  • color copier
  • button makers
  • awards embossers
  • opaque projectors
  • book binders
  • art waxer

Like me, do you have no idea what an art waxer is? To the Google Machines! An outdated post on a mailing list tells me it’s an outdated piece of equipment with a nifty new use: sticky wax on the back of your posters will stick to your concrete block walls. Dude! Nothing sticks to my walls.

Even though I’ve completed seven years of teaching, I didn’t feel like I’d earned my chops until operating a laminating machine today. Next time I go out there, it’s the die cutters[2].

[1] It’s true — planning starts August 1 down here in the Dirty South
[2] these