Sunday, April 18, 2010

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?

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