Last week I posted about some trading cards I made for the teachers I work with in my school. It turns out that wasn't the only card connection my school would bring me. Just a few days ago, one of our 7th grade math teachers walked into my office and asked, "You collect baseball cards, don't you?" Then she left these stacks of cards on my desk.
Wow, it's been a while since I saw rubber bands holding cards together!
So what prompted this gift? Our 7th grade math team created a fantasy baseball game as their culminating project. I'm not sure about the particulars, but I know they use baseball cards to draft teams, analyze the stats, and compete against each other. The kids and teachers both love it and it becomes a highlight every year. These cards are ones that don't meet their needs for the game. The first stack is of cards that don't include strikeouts and walks in the stats, which are both categories they use for the game. The middle stack is of cards that either didn't have stats or enough seasons of stats to be useful for them. The last stack is pitchers. I guess they work with batters only. So when they were looking to clear out the cards that they couldn't use, they thought of me. I was only too happy to take them.
As always, it was fun to sort through an assortment of cards and see what was there. There were a few that will fit nicely into my collection, including these Cubs and a BYU alum that I didn't have previously.
These cards all fit into my collection, too. That trio of 1991 Score features some pretty great action shots.
The majority of the stack came from 1998 and 1999 Choice, which makes for a lot of great photos. Here are a few gems. I love how clearly you can see the ground reflected in David Cone's sunglasses. Double dip, dugout, and autograph shots are always cool. I forgot that Randy Johnson had a short-term stop in Houston. Dave Burba got a great pitcher-at-the-plate shot. And that is a pretty sweet throwback uni on Orlando Merced.
Despite the rubber band storage and the fact they may have been handled by many kids, the cards she gave me were in pretty good shape. There were a couple of creases and some that had obviously been under a sheet of paper when someone was writing, but for the most part, the damage was very minimal. It was a fun surprise and I'm glad she thought of me instead of just throwing them all out.
Teaching can be a polarizing profession. I have a few friends who think it's the cushiest job in the world. Some of my friends think my talents are wasted in education and I could be making far more money elsewhere. (As if we need the least intelligent and skilled people teaching our children!) Some people argue that teachers are overpaid and coddled for the hours they work. Others argue that they are criminally underpaid. Teachers rebut the argument that no other profession gets three months of the year off with a counter that they are constantly taking work home and grading into the night. I try to avoid these arguments. I view myself as a professional and I understand every profession has its pros and cons, its perks and drags. I think sometimes teachers do themselves and their profession a disservice, at least in public perception, by complaining about salaries and workload. But I also recognize that the work we do is vital not only to society, but for the well-being of those kids we teach. I won't argue that educators should be paid as much as pro athletes because I understand the funding for those two professions come from entirely different sources. Still, things like this Key and Peele video get a little chuckle out of me:
Since I moved out of the classroom for another role two years ago, I've discovered that May is no longer an easy, slow month for me. For 13 years, I was winding down and wrapping up in April and May, looking for ways to let my English students have fun and show off their creativity. It was light work. Now that my new responsibilities include overseeing testing and professional development (in-service training), April and May have become a whirlwind for me. This explains my blogging absence over the past 5 or 6 weeks.
But I've found a way to incorporate cards into my work. Being in charge of professional development, I put out a monthly PD newsletter. As part of that newsletter, I've been highlighting our monthly Spirit of Willowcreek award winners. This award is given to teachers by teachers who recognize the good work their colleagues are doing. We have three trophies that get passed around from month to month. In my newsletter, I include a picture of the teacher and some fun tidbit, like a personal motto or something. This year, I decided to make the teacher's photo come in the form of a card.
Here's a snippet of an example:
After a couple months of doing this, I realized that the award recipients were passing the traveling trophy onto a colleague at the end of the month with no other physical memento of it. So I started printing out the cards and delivering them to the teacher. Each card had this message on the back:
Yes, I started to make this kind of a Topps On Demand living set and I numbered the cards. It has been a highlight each month for me to make these. I just found and downloaded some Photoshop templates of card designs and used my rudimentary Adobe skills to make this teacher-centric custom card set.
For privacy purposes, I've blacked out the last name of the teacher and blurred any student faces in the background. The one teacher who has a bitmoji instead of a photo is because he doesn't even like to have his picture up on the school's website. That's his school photo taken from the school's site. I enlisted the yearbook staff to take the pictures for me.
The blank spot is because two people picked the same teacher in one month, so only two teachers received the three trophies.
The Topps Rookie Cup appears on all cards just to be a symbol of the award. I do realize that 1989 Donruss, 1997 Score, 1991 Fleer, etc. didn't use the Topps Rookie Cup. I don't know how many recipients actually realize that, however.
For my first attempt at custom cards, I tried my best to match fonts and keep things as original as possible (aside from the sometimes erroneous or anachronistic cup, of course). On some cards, I added a school logo where the original design wouldn't have had one, but I think they look good overall.
While I have been far too busy with work things to post on my blog, at least I've found a way to make some of those work things card things at the same time. On top of work, I've been staying busy by coaching my son's 7th and 8th-grade little league team. It's my first experience as a head coach and I'm enjoying it. But now I'm thinking--another round of custom cards may be in order with this experience, too.
