The 8th Grade Goes to Washington

Jimmy Stewart of 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington' fame

In about 31 hours, I will be getting on a bus with a bunch of students I've been teaching for two years.  We are going to go to Washington D.C.  To people who know me, this is not a surprise.  But I AM going to surprise you now with our stellar itinerary.  I'm sitting here on the couch and only certain things have panned out. 

When I wake up tomorrow morning (and everything is bright and beautiful because I am a morning person), I am going to get things done.  I'm going to get to my classroom and organize and clean and square it all away.  I rearranged my entire room today, and this was a decision out of nowhere, but it had to be done.  I needed a fresh change, and so everything got moved.  I'm finishing this. I'm doing laundry, I'm confirming appointments in D.C., I'm calling someone about the fine tuned details.  I'm packing for myself, thinking of things my students might not pack and then packing that too, going to Target, double checking things, then triple checking things.  I'm going to relax.  Sleep.  Breathe, drink water, enjoy the day.  That too.  But I'm on a mission to feel solid about D.C., and that takes some focus.  




This morning on the way to school, I started thinking about people in transport.  I thought about people driving in cars, and then people flying in airplanes, and for a few seconds, I felt nervous about flying in a plane.  Usually planes are thrilling, but for a few seconds, I got nervous.  Then I imagined nervous students, and I practiced in the car all of the nice things I'd say to the students so they wouldn't feel bad.  And I practiced saying it in a calming voice.  Kind of a knowing voice that gave them credit without being patronizing.  Those things are important too.  Check.  Check.  Check.  Miss Christians is now ready to fly. 

The really crazy thing is that knowing the history of flight was what actually made me feel grounded again (no pun intended - I seriously just want to say grounded).  I thought about the Wright brothers and how crazy it really was to imagine someone flying through the air like they did.  Now that is a different time in history.  I understand though that while history is comforting to some, it's not obviously comforting to all.  I chose to omit that when rambling through calming words about aviation anxiety.  

Then I'm just going there. 

It's going to be so fun.

I'm meeting everyone early on Thursday morning and then we are going to take a bus from school to the airport.   One of my students has a birthday on this day, so he's bringing doughnuts for the ride there.  For a split second, an 'oh no' sentiment came to me when his mother first made this request.  Sugared, thrilled students at the crack of dawn on a bus?  Ok, fine.  It fits the trip.  I am anticipating that they'll be caffeinated by 7:30 am anyway because Caribou Coffee at the airport is always the posh thing to do on a trip away from parents.  

We fly through Chicago Midway, and then arrive at Dulles.  And then we go to....

...the National Cathedral
...the National Zoo
...Embassy Row
...the National Archives
...the White House (picture stop only)
...Buca de Beppo
...our hotel!!

That's Thursday.

Here's Friday.

...the Capitol
...the Grant Memorial (for a group picture)
...lunch
...Ford's Theater
...the Holocaust Museum
...the WWII Memorial
...the Washington Monument
...the Jefferson Memorial
...the FDR Memorial
...Phillips Flagship (for dinner)
...the Kennedy Center
...the hotel

Here's Saturday.

...the Lincoln Memorial
...the Vietnam War Memorial
...the Korean War Memorial
...ALL Smithsonian museums (Air and Space, American History, Natural History, American Indian)
...the Iwo Jima Marine Memorial
...Arlington National Cemetery (including a wreath laying ceremony - SCPA is a part of it!!)
...Fuddrucker's  (for dinner)
...a ghost tour in Alexandria (where Washington used to drink his ale)
...our hotel

Here's Sunday.

...Mount Vernon
...the National Portrait Gallery
...the airport in Baltimore


Last year we returned and I couldn't find our bus.  Lovely.  This year I will be able to find it.  And if not, I don't have to leave a bunch of tired kids milling around in Arrivals to find the right bus driver.  I WILL have that number.

This year our tour guide is named Eric, not Mike.

This year I am still going to love the FDR Memorial, the walk around the Tidal Basin, and Mount Vernon.

I'm going to enjoy time with kids I've known for two years.  It's so nice to be able to shoot the breeze with them. 

I'm going to once again marvel at D.C. traffic.  YIKES.

I'm going to laugh a lot - the chaperones I'm going with are some of my closest friends at school, and we work well together.  One of them suggested a D.C. documentary, and we've conjured up a great list of documentary questions that sound like The Office without being annoying.  Suggesting an Office-like adventure during a boring meeting at school?  Now that's a good friend. 

I'm not going to wear frumpy chaperone clothes....something a little classier will emerge (I hope) than last year when I do laundry tomorrow.  But I will still have to carry the First Aid kit.  And in the end, that is a not a frumpy chaperone thing to do at all.  It's something that becomes very nice (if anyone starts to bleed at, say, the Korean Memorial).

I will marvel at the weird blend of mom and teacher that this trip becomes.  14 year olds NEED us on this trip when they're crying, swaggering, marveling, thrilled, crabby, and real.  The one thing I said I will not do though is carry all of their junk for them.  Yeah right.   I'm carrying the First Aid kit. 

Now all I need to do is pack.