Blast from the Past

One big perk of being a middle school teacher is that I get to do spirit weeks all over again... but this time I can go ALL out, because it's expected of the drama teacher to go a little nuts. And I don't have to worry if I don't look cool because, hey.... I'm a middle school teacher! That alone makes me a dork no matter what I do!

The week of Halloween was our spirit week. We had "twin day," where I twinned up with a student of mine. We had "college jersey day," where I suited up Mizzou-style (of course!). Then we then had "role reversal" day (teacher/student)... and I went all out. I observed my students closely, took notes of "must-have's" and headed to Wal-Mart. I showed up that day with black nails, a black and red "goth" shirt, a black hoodie that had light-up "do-hickeys" that glowed red when I moved. I wore big earrings, rope bracelets, and spray painted streaks of red in my hair. As a finishing touch I wrote all over my hands and arms. Brian got top billing with "CW+BW" in a big heart, followed by his phone number (867-5309). I was, to quote my students, the "bomb diggidy." Waddup. I had planned on taking pictures, but (shame on me) I never got to it. I know, I know. I'm kicking myself in the butt for that, too.

But my favorite day was Flashback Friday. Of course I flashed back to the '80s/early '90s. Here is a photo of me in front of my classroom:

If you can't see it all in the picture I'll give you the gory details: I crimped my entire head of hair, put a half-pony tail on the top of my head, curled and sprayed my bangs like crazy (though I never did get them to go half as high as I used to be able to!), wore lots of blue eyeshadow and big red hoop earrings and bangle bracelets, tight rolled my jeans, scrunched my socks (though you can't see that in the picture, unfortunately) and... did you see my shirt?? Here, let me help you take a closer look:

Yes, that is a New Kids on the Block T-shirt. This is THE concert T-shirt my "friends" Holly and Carrie bought me at the New Kids concert they went to without me (but I'm not bitter... ha!) in the 8TH GRADE. It smelled a little musty but I was just thrilled it fit! What made it extra hilarious was that my kids actually knew who the New Kids were (because of their comeback) and I had to point out how YOUNG they looked on my shirt before they realized how old it was.

My students could not believe we actually used to dress like this. And they all thought I was from the '70s. *sigh* When I said I dressed like this in the '80s they said, "You were ALIVE in the '80s?!?"

This job is so funny.

Oh, I must also point out that this was on Friday.... Halloween. I took Chase Trick-or-Treating dressed like this. It was funny carrying on conversations with neighbors I hadn't met before and watching them try to figure out if I REALLY dressed like that or if I was just dressed up for Halloween. They didn't want to say anything... just in case. Ha ha!