Day -1

My room is empty and tidy. My posters are down, the computers are covered, my paperwork is done. I have a few more hours at The March and I am done with the East Side. Back over West, where I started, but in a charter school this go-round. I just registered for a week-long training in their methodology this summer.

What did we do today at work? I played basketball with another teacher and some sixth and eighth graders today. I hadn't played in any kind of organized game of hoops since Michael Jordan's first retirement, but it was fun to get out and move around. I had a lot of trouble with layups early on, because playing ball isn't like riding a bike--but I recovered and ended up at 30% shooting. I made some great rebounds against Talon, who is 6'3" and has a huge wingspan. I was really proud of him for his leadership and skills, but I took pleasure in contesting him on every shot. He told me he's never played against someone with faster feet, and I thought that was hilarious, and impossible. My feet didn't stop him from scoring a couple dozen points the first game.

The second game I was on Talon's team. I set lots of picks for him which he finished with grace, switching hands often and showing off his skills. He hung off the rim once but never jammed today, for some reason. I benefited on post-up plays from his good passing and got a couple easy buckets.

As remarkable as Talon's talents are, I still have to shout-out my man Shaken, not Stirred. He's about 4'11" tall, but he is fearless and has a great floater and a fantastic deep shot, which he can only make underhand like some 1950-s free-thrower.
I was entertained no end by the sight of Shaken, not Stirred shaking off Talon a couple times and floating a shot over his gigantic wing-span for a deuce. I saw it several times today.


Because I'm done, and because there won't be more than a dozen children in the building tomorrow (there were barely that many the last two days) I was thinking about calling in sick tomorrow. But Talon asked me to play hoops again tomorrow, and it's worth going in for that.