When I took over Rm 314 as my classroom, I inherited from the previous teacher, John Harrington, a few posters and a white plastic bucket. He had taught California History, and, on field trips to Sutter’s Mill, he and the students used the bucket to sluice riverbed material into gold panning tins.
I took over the classroom 12 years ago, and have had the bucket since; it served to hold dozens of markers which students used to create posters for World History 1, AP Psychology, and, later, the Art & Publicity club.
The bucket was taken from my classroom in late-November 2013, and in mid-January, I sent the following email:
Colleagues,
Before Christmas, Art & Publicity’s white 5-gallon bucket of markers was taken from Rm 314, and the club needs it back, please. In all honesty, most of the markers are dried out and we have better ones in 314… what I am most interested in is getting the bucket back. (I have a slightly sentimental attachment to the bucket, marked “CA History,” because I inherited it from John Harrington.)
If you see the CA History bucket of markers anywhere on campus, please let me know, and I will retrieve it.
thanks,
- Eric
When I retrieved the bucket, it was covered with marks, writings, and tags — after remaining clean for 12 years. I make note on it here only because I need to acknowledge that I was actually saddened by this. I tried to pass it off as if it were no big deal, not wanting to make a fellow teacher feel bad about a silly plastic bucket. But, in all honesty, I had sentimental feelings attached to that bucket. :(