The first thing I see here is the horseshoe - open end up to catch the luck! That shoe came from the last horse I ever rode - at a farm in New Hampshire. His name was Tubby. The lady in charge told me he was like riding a chaise lounge.

Then there are the license plates. I've owned dozens of cars. The coolest one is from Tennessee, in the shape of the state. It was my from my parents car the year before I was born.

Some of my early influences are included - Mickey Mantle, the Little Rascals, the Three Stooges (which, along with the Marx Brothers, formed the basis for my teaching philosophy)

There is a plaque and certificate presented to me in 1997 as the initial recipient of the Lowe Life Award, given by Newsday Columnist Ed Lowe

The clipboard on the left is the "Bathroom Signout" sheet. Kids hated to sign out for the bathroom so I used to make them do it for sport.

The other clipboard is for fire drills. As a public service, I would bring enough pink attendance slips for all the other teachers who would gather on the lawn outside the band room with us.

We also have 4 plaques celebrating my inclusion in Who's Who Among America's Teachers. When in HS, former students were able to nominate one teacher from their past. I am truly honored to have been selected.

There are also some greeting and thank you cards stuck to the molding along with (pre-Covid) hand sanitizer.

This is what the back of the door looked before being ravaged in the name of fire safety. In the center is my "Respect / Responsibility" sign. Notice it was not necessary to get Results, just the first two. My lacrosse gloves from 1967 are also hanging up. They look like lobsters. That's when the men were made of steel and the sticks were made of wood.

Any visitor entering the band room door during rehearsal or lessons was greeted thusly:
1 - the person would apologize for disturbing the class
2 - I would direct the band to say good morning to [person's name].
3 - the entire class would chant in perfect unison "Good morning [person's name], Mr. Guido has told us so many wonderful things about you."
4 - the person would give me the "you are such a wacko" look.
I would then ask the class to give [person's name]
- the QUEEN of ENGLAND WAVE- fingers together, hand slightly cupped, forearm vertical, rotate wrist left to right while moving entire arm from left to right
- the POPE'S WAVE- same starting position, no rotation of wrist, forearm gently rocks forward and back
- the BILL CLINTON KNUCKLE- you know, from the "I did not have ... with that woman." I don't think the kids understood the reference. For 20 years we did this in my classroom. I kept waiting for the inevitable "What the hell were you thinking?" but it never came.
- the GOLF CLAP- silent clapping
- a SMATTERING OF POLITE APPLAUSE - just like it sounds
- we end with WILD ENTHUSIASTIC APPLAUSE!!

All this would happen in just over one minute. We did it to every single adult who stuck their head in that door. We had many such diversions in the classroom. Why?

To my thinking, playing a band instrument well is a highly difficult skill. If you weren't having fun, it would be too hard. My primary goal was to get you from 11 years old to 13 years old and you are still in the band. You didn't have to be a great player. You needed to be a good citizen, and give good faith effort on becoming a productive member of the group. Not everyone can develop instrumental skills quickly. Everyone should still be able to enjoy band class while your skills develop

Many people leaving the room would futilely pull on the door knob repeatedly. The little white sign says "Two words - Turn & Push." Sadly, this was a necessity. One of my favorite things to say to middle school kids was
"I know there is no room for sarcasm in the classroom, but it's fun and it works great."

Finally, If you zoom in on the left door, you can see through the window - across the hall - to Ms. Vasco's room where she has - a couch.