The Smell of Education

After a little Twitter conversation I had this evening, I felt the need to reflect in a few more than 140 characters.

A smell can be one of the most powerful memory triggers. Do you remember what school smelled like when you were a child? Here are just a few odors that bring back images from my school days. See if any of these bring back memories for you...

• Opening a new box of Crayola crayons.
• Flipping through the pages of a dusty old World Book Encyclopedia.
• Paste. (The kind with the stick in the lid.)
• Tempera paint. (Especially if it has gone bad.)
• White out.
• Chalk dust. (Ever have the job of cleaning the erasers?)

And of course, the best smell of all...

• A paper handout fresh out of the ditto machine.

I wonder what smells our students will remember?