Right in the head.

Despite the fact that I'm a math teacher, I'm totally right brained. This is most evident in the organization of my space. And, yes, I did say organization, though anyone who is left brained, or even a little less right brained than me, may roll their eyes about my use of that word.

I had a student once write a spoof newspaper. On page 2 was a story (complete with a photoshopped picture) about how Ms. A was found trapped under her desk after an avalanche of the papers.

So I recognize that, to many people, my organizational methods just look like one big mess.

But guess what. It's MY DESK. So you can bite me. The only person who has a right (no pun intended) to complain about my right brained habits is my husband, because he has to live with me day in and day out, and his personality is as A+ as his blood.

Yesterday I was out of the classroom to take a class that is required of all teachers in my state. I recently started mentoring a student teacher. She's awesome, and she's only been with me a week. So she taught my classes, but I was still assigned a substitute, because ST is so new and, technically, we're not really supposed to rely on them to sub anyway.

ST is very, very organized. We have had discussions about it because her husband is just like me. She has assigned him a room that he can keep as "messy" (her word) as he likes.

So when I walked in today and discovered I could see the top of my desk- the whole thing- I was pissed. I didn't want to be, though, because I thought it was ST and she's so sweet and I was worried my right-brain-edness was driving her crazy.

Turns out, she didn't touch my desk. It was the sub. Who had to put up with my room for one whole day. She cleared the entire top of the desk and "organized" the small bookshelf next to it. She made files that she stacked in my vertical holder.

I couldn't find a fucking thing.

And the worst part? She threw things away! (Like the list I made of the number that each student had in the $75 out-of-print textbook they took home, so that they don't come in June and grab one from our class set and say "Oh, yeah. Here it is," because they let their dog eat the one at their house as a snack.) I spent half my morning digging through the recycling bin, retrieving things that she thought were trash but actually meant something to me or was needed in my class.

So here's a message to all you type A, left brained, ultra neat and organized, folder fanatics. Just because you don't understand my organizational system doesn't mean it's wrong. You might like to see all your color-coded three ring binders lined up on your shelf, but I like to be able to see each piece of paper. You may prefer your alphabetical file drawer with it's little plastic tabs, but not only do I like my piles, I challenge you to a race of who can fetch a particular item faster.

So there.