There's No "I" in "Teacher"

As I "feared" would happen, my supervisor indeed got moved to the main (downstairs) teacher's room. But he's still a bit lucky, for two reasons: 1) His desk is in the last row in back, so he can sort of "hide" if he wants to. And 2) His neighbor to the right is one of those teachers who has an office elsewhere in the school and therefore doesn't really use her assigned (extra) desk. So my supervisor can use her desk for additional space, which, believe me, he desperately needs.

As far as I know, the only reason that my supervisor had to move downstairs is that he switched (i.e., was switched) from one committee to another. Since all the members of his new committee have their desks in the back of the teacher's room, so does he (now). Even though his committee probably meets a maximum of once per week, and even though he probably could do his committee work from his (old) desk upstairs, he still had to move to his new location. That's the Japanese way. Simple as that.

Naturally, my supervisor wasn't the only teacher to change desks. Many other teachers were also forced to switch from one committee to another. So a few days ago, while the students were still on vacation, a lot of the teachers played the Japanese version of teacher's musical chairs and either moved their belongings from desk A to desk B or simply grabbed their beloved desks and moved them to their new locales.

A couple of teachers even moved just one desk to the left. If you ask me, that's going too far, but I was told that those moves had to do with "Japanese tradition." See, one of the teachers who was transferred was in charge in some way or other of the sixth graders (the seniors). His desk was upstairs in the far back of the room. The guy who replaced him in that leadership capacity sat just to the guy's right. But, apparently, Japanese tradition calls for that "leader" to sit at that particular "leader's" desk in the back of the room. So instead of keeping his desk and someone else getting the vacant desk, the new leader scooted over one position.

But that meant that the guy who sat to his right also had to move over one position to the left. Why? Well, the other guy is in charge of the fifth graders. And the sixth-grade chief told me that he often needs to discuss things with the fifth-grade leader. So it helps if their desks are right next to each other's. Sure. Got it. Whatever.

Oh, and check this out. My supervisor's old desk (the first one on the right in the picture to the right) has been taken over by yet another of those teachers who has an office elsewhere in the school. Which, yes(!), means that she really doesn't need the extra desk. Which means that my supervisor could have stayed upstairs.

And the other teacher who had a desk upstairs next to my supervisor's but never used it since he had an office in the science wing (meaning I was conveniently able to sit at his upstairs desk quite often and my supervisor took advantage of the extra space) was transferred to another school. His desk was taken over by a different (not new) science teacher. Meaning that that desk, too, still goes unused. (It's the one with the laptop on the green mat.)

So I think that my supervisor should move back to his old desk and only go downstairs when he has committee work or meetings. But I guess he's happy enough in his new location. At least right now.

I'm just very thankful that there's still room for me upstairs if I should ever want to go up there and work in peace. Heck, one of the other teachers who has his desk up there even half-jokingly asked me if I was going to move up there. So I know I'm welcome upstairs.

For now, though, I'm very happy to camp out in the back of the main teacher's room, at the desk that's to the right of my supervisor and far away from Ms. Sniffles. Besides, I work closely with my supervisor, so it makes sense that we sit next to each other. Right? And the new perspective will do me some good, right?

Oops! I almost got carried away there. I forgot that I'm part of the group. What works for me isn't important. Note to self: There's no "I" in "Teacher."