Week Thirty: March 29th

Coming into the homestretch for submission of my materials for National Board Certification, it was time for a rallying charge facial-hair change.

It just so happened that our school was about to begin the two-week journey that is state testing. This year we decided to do a pep rally of sorts to get the students excited about how well we believed they could do. I don't know how it all started, but someone floated the idea, and then there was mention of "Deal or No Deal," and the next thing I know, I am sporting "The Mandel."

The panicked and horrified looks in the kids' eyes was worth the price of admission and, despite my college roommate's fears that his hair would never grow back if he ever mustered the eggs to shave it all off, I have no such fears. If it doesn't grow back, well, then, that is OK too. (Of course, as I write this, I already have a nice dome-stubble forming, which tells me that this particular shaving will develop in much the same way that the other eleven have.)

Wrapping up National Boards was one thing; getting the chance to burn it all out in a performance in my own school, a place where I feel as though I am always playing a part (and hiding some of myself) is an entirely different thing. So, I suited up and played Mandel: germophobe-heavy and script-free. The kids in 3rd-5th grades did not quite know what to make of it, nor did the poor kid we selected to play the contestant. One of my students asked me afterward if we, "like, practiced that, or something," and I laughed, responding, "No, I made that up as I went along." She walked off with a look of semi-disbelief, knowing by now that she can never take everything I say completely seriously, but thinking this might be a rare time when I told the whole truth.