Frank McCourt, Jesse Stuart, and Me

I spent three days this week subbing for a science teacher at the high school I graduated from. It was three days of showing videos five class periods a day, often the same videos for each class. I read a lot of books this week. I also found out the difference between light and dark meat.

Random thoughts from the week:

1. I felt a repeated urge to give many of the boys I taught haircuts. I'm sorry, but the long, shaggy look is not one I particularly care for.
2. It really bothers me to hear the kids say, "Oh, I don't have a big vocabulary. I'm from Lakeview," as if being from Lakeview is an excuse for ignorance. I replied, "Well, I'm also from Lakeview," and they mumbled something about being slackers. Aargh. No, we don't have the best economic situation. No, we don't have all the resources that larger, "better" schools have. But that's no excuse. You can't blame your lack of motivation simply on your location or your resources.
3. I didn't realize how much I enjoy coaching my Quiz Bowl kids until I subbed at the high school level. Part of it is yes, that they are more academic in nature. Another part of it is that, unlike subbing for younger grades, teens are more stand-offish with a sub, and therefore it's a lot harder to connect with the kids I was subbing for than it's been with elementary-age kids, who mostly interact with subs pretty well, or with my Quiz Bowlers, who know me.

Two of the (many) books I read this week were Frank McCourt's memoir Teacher Man, which chronicles his teaching career in New York City during the latter part of the 20th century, and Jesse Stuart's The Thread That Runs So True, about his years as a teacher and administrator in rural Kentucky during the '20s and '30s. Both were good reads and gave me hope that it is possible to teach high schoolers effectively, even though that's not necessarily the easiest age group for me to work with. What really stuck out to me in both of them is that to reach high schoolers (or any age group), you have to be creative, rather than hum-drum. That may sound obvious, but I recommend both books as ways of showing how to be creative effectively.

That's the problem with subbing. There is no way to show 15 class periods of videos effectively!