First Week Teaching

My mind is a jumble. Haven’t blogged for so long. On the way to writing class Tuesday I got a flat tire. Waited until afterward to call AAA. The cute tow-truck driver had moved here from San Luis Obispo four years ago. “Everyone’s getting out of California,” he said.

While the tire was being changed I walked into Walmart and got a $15 haircut ($18 w/tip).  I decided not to mention it to John and was surprised when the next day he said, “Did you do something to your hair?”  I started to say, “Yes, I got a cheap haircut, it’s all choppy and uneven, but it will grow out.”  But he stopped me half way and said, “I like it.”

I wasn’t nervous on my first day of teaching. I had been, before I picked up the rubric and examples of Level 4 writing. Here’s a sentence that caught my attention:

When the TV show was over I went back into my brother’s and I’s room to see how Trey was doing.

My brother and I’s!!!   I was flabbergasted. What teacher would let a kid get away with not fixing such a glaring grammatical error?  Had anyone even read this?  I took my red pen – flashing back to when I was nine, in Europe, and my class sent me letters that I loved correcting – and went through several of the state examples. Then I just stopped reading.

I told my mother about this and she said, “Keep your mouth shut!” which I did to a certain extent, only telling friends. Izabel said it wasn’t good to get so upset, it drained adrenaline. So I just took a deep breath and decided to rely on my own common sense and experience.

I entered the fourth grade class, in session, and waited until the hour was up. The teacher read the names of students who were to stay and work with me: ten girls, two boys.   

The children had not been warned about my coming and were only told that it was a privilege to get to work with me, a privilege that could be rescinded if they did not behave.  I started the alliteration exercise and the teacher left.

As anyone who has taken my writing workshop knows, the alliteration exercise is quick and fun. But it gives me a good idea of each person’s personality, writing skills and style.

This group was so slow that only two girls said they were finished. Some had barely written two sentences.  So, next week I’ll have them edit, expand and do final drafts. For the girls who said they were finished I’ll throw some more words at them, or tell them to add dialogue, or something. 

Last night (Thursday) John and I went to a Chamber Mixer hosted by Dell Sheftall, the jeweler I interviewed.  It was a lovely affair, more of a block party, with shops open and food tables from various area restaurants. We got there late – because I had to walk Walter – so there wasn’t much food left, but I did get to introduce John to Dell, and Morgan, the publisher of the Chamber magazine. We also missed a choir performance by students of Schreiner College but were there for the prize drawings – nice prizes! We didn’t win.

The MC asked if any new business owners were there and wanted to introduce themselves. A woman came up and said she had opened a specialty tea shop. I thought, how can anyone make a living selling tea?

“I’ve missed Texas!” John said, standing in the cool night air, amid the throng.  “That’s my favorite color,” he said looking over the top of one of the two-story buildings.  To me it looked like dark navy blue. I would not  have considered it a color worthy of mentioning.

Which just goes to show how differently we perceive the world. The sky that he saw as his favorite color was, to me, just a scary black night that I’d have to navigate – I was the designated driver - gripping the steering wheel, worried about animals running out in front of me, squinting into oncoming headlights.  Next time I’ll drink and he can drive.