We don't need no Noise Control

I've been trying to figure out the big difference between teaching junior high and high school(besides the fact that all the girls are taller than me now). It finally came to me today as I stared down a quiet long hallway. I don't teach with my door open. During that last afternoon class, when maybe my lesson wasn't quite as tight as it was second period but my kids weren't as mentally alert anyway, I liked to open up my door and slip my own teaching murmurs into the the light education sounds coming down the hallway. There was a cohesiveness there. It might have been a sinking tiredness on that hot Friday afternoon in October(oh god, where's Fall?) but you could walk to the door and catch the eye of your fellow teacher and smile in sympathy. Here at suburbiaville, boom! my door goes shut when the bell rings. Creak, it slams open again when it's time to go. We might quickly chat between bells but there's a definite feeling of isolation. It's almost like teaching within a bubble. Don't want those Geography germs to get into our Geometry edudome, now do we? My god, that collaboration might bring down edumacation as we know it. We've got the same kids but it feels kinda stingy. My class, my kids, my core subject. Funny thing is that I have to wedge my door open with a cart between bells because the doorstop is broken. Maybe I've been symbolically trying to rebel all month long. Cue Just another Cart in the Door sung to Pink Floyd's, The Wall.