This is image represents my “work bag” that I carry with me every day in my role as an elementary music and band teacher. Included in addition to the literal contents of my work bag are other items that also accompany me to and from my school.

Contents and Daily Use

• The backpack itself was a gift from my sister. It is designed to be highly water resistant, an important need for me given that my typical commute consists of transit and walking in all types of nasty weather.
• The saxophone has been an important part of my identity for many years before I became a teacher. Although I am no longer packing it with me on long tours with bands, I use it almost daily in the music classes I teach. Recently, I was lucky enough to acquire a spare saxophone that now resides in my music room, so I am no longer actively transporting my primary instrument with me every day.
• The reusable shopping bags are a permanent fixture in my bag, as I often include a bit of grocery shopping on my commute home that happens to take me right by a grocery store.
• The travel mug is an essential part of my daily routine because it will not be a good day if I do not have my coffee.
• The ibuprofen bottle is something that, as a lifelong sufferer of headaches, I have extras of stashed away inside every bag and instrument case I own.
• The instant coffee packets are intended for emergency use only. It is generally not a good day if I find myself using those.
• The tea bags are nice to have on days when my voice starts to feel worn out from overuse from constant speaking and singing at work.
• The multitool mostly gets used for minor instrument repairs, but it always becomes useful in other unexpected situations.
• The granola bars are mainly intended for emergency use, typically when I need some food to go down with my ibuprofen.
• The pocket notebook is my “second brain” at work. I use it to keep quick notes of what material I have covered each day with the thirteen different classes I see every week.
• The mechanical pencils are for use with the notebook. I always keep 2 for the inevitable occasions when the first one stops working.
• The sharpie is because I can never find one at work when I need one.
• The keys are keys for the school and my filing cabinet there.
• The roll of dog poop bags are because I never want to find myself in a situation when I need them as a dog owner but don’t have them, and so like the ibuprofen I have them stashed everywhere.
• The external battery charger is because my phone is old and its battery sucks, but otherwise it works well enough that I can’t justify replacing it.
• The laptop computer (with charging cable) is the device provided to me by my school district. I use it constantly at work in conjunction with a projector for audio-visual and text resources for my lessons.
• The earbuds are for listening to podcasts during my commute.
• The phone case represents my phone, which was used to take this photo.
• My wallet contains all the usual things most wallets usually carry, including my transit pass, ID, credit card, and some cash as a backup for emergencies.

While the majority of items in my bag are used on a daily or near-daily basis, many of the items that I regularly carry are intended for “emergencies”.

Items as texts: What they say about me

These items speak to my habit of trying to be well-prepared for unexpected or unplanned circumstances. Although I am far from the most eco-conscious person, these items to point towards more sustainable habits (public transit instead of driving, reusable shopping bags instead of single-use plastic, reusable coffee mug instead of purchasing disposable) that I have integrated into my routine. The saxophone represents not only my current job as a music teacher but also reflects a past career as a professional musician when I would be carrying one or more instruments with me to every job I did.

 

“Text technologies” in my bag and the literacies I have

The notepad and pencils are what I use for personal notes and reminders to aid my memory. I find the process of writing on paper feels more “fluid” and “natural” for directly translating my thoughts to some sort of visual form, especially given that it does not require any correction of typos or fiddling around to open the correct app. Although I grew up with access to a computer at home when I was young, the majority of my education placed a heavy emphasis on writing with pencils and pens as opposed to typing.

The laptop computer serves many text and communication purposes. Its larger screen makes it my preferred device for consuming larger works of text, as as well as image- and video-based content. I use it for creating emails to colleagues, comments for report cards, worksheets and resources to be printed for students, and digital resources to be projected in the classroom. In addition to typed communication, I also use this device to create some image, audio, and video-based resources to communicate ideas to my students in ways other than written language. For engaging with literacies that are more visual in nature, I prefer this tool.

My phone, similarly, acts as a hub for many different literacies and forms of communication. While it is technically capable of many of the same tasks as my laptop, I avoid using it for producing or consuming larger written texts or videos. Because of its portable nature, I do use it frequently for capturing photographs of things I would like to remember (such as how I set up the xylophones for a certain class), and for consuming podcasts while I travel to and from work. I also use my phone for text message and instant message communications with friends and family, and of course for the occasional phone call as well. For literacies that are more audio in nature and/or can be practiced while away from the fixed location of a desk, this is my preferred tool.

The final tool I will mention here is my saxophone. It is not what I would think of as a text tool, but it definitely speaks to my musical literacy generally and my more specific literacy with this particular instrument.

My narrative

The main difference that the actual, uncurated contents of my bag would tell is that I am an extremely messy person. My desk is covered in clutter, as is the inside of my bag. My bag additionally contains old scraps of mystery paper, assortments of additional stationary supplies that really don’t need to be kept in there, and packs of medicine to suppress cold symptoms leftover from a pre-pandemic era when it wasn’t considered unacceptable to come to work feeling a bit sick (especially if the concert was happening that day!).

In the past

A version of my bag from 25 years ago, without a laptop, would probably have done away with the backpack entirely and kept only the most essential items that could fit inside the saxophone case. The reusable shopping bags would not have been present, and the coffee mug may have stuck around only because I find it faster and more convenient to brew my own coffee at home rather than waiting in line at the coffee shop during morning rush hour.

From an archeological point of view

I wonder if an archeologist reviewing these contents would be puzzled by the inclusion of pencils and a notebook when the collection already included a cell phone. Perhaps they might have guessed that those were just another “backup” or “just in case” item, rather than something I actually use very regularly in my daily practice.