The Destiny of Things: US Puzzle Map, Story XIV

The Destiny of Things:  US Puzzle Map, Story XIV

Remember these?  Remember when it was standard to learn all the state names with capital cities and know there economic products? 

Once upon a time, over twenty five years ago, on the first day of school when I asked my third graders which country they lived in they said, "Mexico!"  And every year, I'd ask who they thought the President of our country was and when I heard the answer, "Martin Luther King, Jr." too many times I stopped asking!  I mean, how does that happen?  That was a life time ago, so I hope all the answers have changed to the correct ones now!

While organizing my hoard, surprisingly I have came across some of my teacher props and I had three or four of these puzzles still in their original plastic coverings.

Note from Buyer I had a puzzle like this when I was a kid. I'm ordering these for my grandkids. Can't wait to see it. I've looked all over to find this. Thank you very much.

DH left me the above note at checkout on the last two purchased and I felt so much better!  All those feelings of unrest with my students misplaced knowledge and the struggles of teaching in an inner city with resources I had to supply were much easier to acknowledge, accept, trust, deal with and let go.  Thank you DH from VA for leaving this kind note at check out, if you only knew how much it has helped my HoarderRehab! 

Saying Good-bye:  These were difficult to let go, but may have been impossible if it hadn't been for another random note of kindness!   Many memories of my students and the old teaching styles that went with it, theme teaching with cooperative learning centers were fun and exciting times, compared to the last reading program the district adopted.

Most of my students learned that they lived in the United States of America, knew their own state and capital city.  Later I could afford 35 or so of these, so they could have a tactile lesson in learning social studies and have even more fun!
Other objectives were to identify our bordering countries.  To know that our country was made up of states and those states were made up of cities, etc.  Later the objective was to be able to find and identify a state, it's capital, our National capitol and some of it's main economic products.  This task took all year with a bilingual class with a mono-lingual teacher!

 What I learned:

1.  Since the last two stories, Freddie the Frog, and Receipt Spike and Service Bell more memories are bubbling up to the surface and these seem to be more bittersweet, bitter nostalgic, with all the brimstone trial and tribulation flames and all.

2.  I'm not sure if I have feet to miles of onion layering of teacher trauma drama or if it is it's own onion in itself.  My hoard isn't just about peeling one onion to it's core, but several onions?  I feel like I opened Pandora's box at the worst possible point in my hoarder history!

3.  This is tiring business!  I think I'm just skimming the surface of all the teacher trauma drama I've taught through all those years!  Looking back, I don't know how I survived teaching for so long!  No wonder I've never let myself look back!  It's horrible, horrifying, against all odds uphill losing battle and sounds whiny!

4.  It's difficult to lighten up and be springingly bright doing one of these a day.  Is it worth doing one a day?  Should I move on to another topic? or stay with it and see where it takes me?

5.  Is this the blinding white light before the bomb goes off?  Because I feel blinded and shocked right now.

6.  My HoarderRehab is becoming more complicated, intricate and complex, stupefying as I let my teacher hoard go!  Am I spinning my own web?  About to hang myself with some endless rope? or is this another fork in the road that turns into endless paths?  or is this part of seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and it being sunshine and not a head on collision course with another train?

It actually made my head whirl, my heart race and my stomach to churn.  My head is still whirling and I feel dazed and confused, but I think I'm getting somewhere.  Is this what moving forward feels like?

Parting Questions:  How did my teaching trauma drama universe become so expansive?  It feels like an amoeba engulfing streets, houses, shops and indiscriminately everything in it's path from all directions!  Is there a way to stop it, control it or ride it out properly?  Is there a way to bypass all of it and just let go in one huge entire chunk?  or will I need to deal with every lost teacher memory that comes along with listen, acknowledge, acceptance, trust and let go?

Parting Thoughts:  I am thankful that all though the timing doesn't seem right during this getting busy Christmas time, now is a better time than ever!  I'm thankful for not procrastinating or putting it on the back burner.  I'm thankful I can sit quietly with my feelings and memories long enough to let them go.  I am thankful it feels like I have all the time in the world!

Post Notes:  I originally wrote this September 22, 2012 and spent all morning adding more of my teacher trauma drama, but in the end edited it all out because although remembering is bittersweet to painful, it has come to my attention that it feels endless and even if it is a gigantic part of my hoarding and like another chapter to my hoarding ways, it's actually bigger than just a chapter, but a whole other book, so I took it out to be examined more closely and simultaneously, but in a different forum.  And spare you a really long post!

Thank you etsy for providing me an outlet to get these items out into the world for others to enjoy!  Thank you DH from VA for your kind note that is taking me somewhere I need to go!  Thank you for joining me in my HoarderRehab!  Can you remember the President when you were a third grader?