Acetic Anhydride

It is May. It is the end of the school year. I am wound up so tightly that I will not think twice about jumping down the throat of the first person who crosses me. So let me describe how the last hour and a half of school made it 1000 times worse.

4th period. They bug the living daylights out of me. They lie, cheat, drink alcohol in class, back-talk, swear, make out in class, and everything else under the sun. I cannot wait to be rid of them and I am sure they cannot wait to be rid of me. I have been driving myself batty trying to make these last 2 weeks of school bearable by coming up with lessons that are somewhat relevant and engaging. They are learning about materials- crystals, nanoparticles, polymers, etc. All new stuff that I am making up as I go which is more work. Not in the book. Not like I use the book anyway.

So today they were supposed to do commercials about a product that uses nanotechnology to improve performance. They behaved hideously. Their "commercials" were awful. They had no problem speaking while another group was taking their turn "performing". I kicked a girl out of class after she mocked 2 kids- got an earful of brat talk. I got so frustrated I handed them each a science magazine/article and said they had to read it and summarize it and they couldn't talk or look at their phones until the end of class. So they sat in silence. Don't worry, I know they didn't learn a single thing except that I was ticked.

Then, the bell rings. As soon as the bell rings, I am paged to call the office. So I do. My chemical order that was SUPPOSED TO BE PUT IN OVER A WEEK AGO just got sent off by the district. For crying out loud!! Me and my school did it all by the book. The district sat on it for no apparent reason and now I will not have my chemical in time.

Why is this so important right now? Well, for the past week+ my honors students having been learning how to synthesize aspirin. They have studied the procedure carefully, they can explain the hows, whys, and what ifs, (not so much the calculations though) and they have gone through one trial synthesis. They are starting to think about what they are doing and why they are doing it and they are asking good questions. I have them right where I want them.

But NO. It is all for nothing. I will not have any acetic anhydride for them to do a second trial. They will not get to test their hypotheses. They will not have the chance to prove to themselves that they CAN do chemistry (most of them think they can't because it is too hard. more like it is the first thing they have ever done that has challenged them at all) Instead, I will have to come up with a new plan in 11 hours that can assess what I have been cultivating for several weeks. Not likely to happen.

I am so upset! I can't just go to the grocery store and buy this stuff. It is a level 3 health hazard and a level 2 flammability hazard. It has to be shipped via truck. None of the high schools in my district have any I can borrow and I am not eligible to purchase any from the university. I am at the point where I am so frustrated that I would have driven 2 hours and spent my own money to get my hands on 500 mL of the stuff. But it just isn't possible. What is with the dang district??? Don't they know some of us have to TEACH??

FYI- I looked at the purchase date on the old bottle of acetic anhydride. 1989. I was 7 years old. Expiration date- 1994. Hmmm...maybe that explains the green moldy things and spikey crystals that showed up when we put the stuff in the drying oven? Probably not.