Or so I’ve heard. Friday was my last day of subbing in this small town. The regular teacher is back, smiling and restored to health, and I helped her move some of the classroom furnishings into the positions that she prefers to have them. Later she worried that she had offended me, and I did my best to reassure her.
Of course I’m sad. I know I don’t have the energy to do this all year, especially since the leaves are falling now, that winter that Stephen St. Vincent Benet might have referred to as a “scalping knife at the throat” is on its way, and trips out of town are difficult to arrange, but still. . .eleven kids, two teachers, a cook/admin assistant who loves the kids, and custodian/maintenance dude who loves the building. Add to that the fact that the unused classrooms are individual archaeological digs, except that most of the treasures thus revealed have immediate practical use.
And I struggled with a student behavioral issue or two. Even though I used all the latest research, and remembered how people throughout the years have from time to time gushed about my talent with children and my creativity, I can’t help but wonder. Is it something along the line of what God said to Job that one time, that there is just something about me that pisses people off? And what in the world do I make of it when a child pauses in a tantrum and carefully, with great attention to detail, makes me a paper figurine of his favorite video game character? And then resumes said tantrum?
Side note to those who worry about me: don’t fret. I had a wonderful time here, gained new skills and knowledge, made new friends, and experienced a broad range of micro-successes. And whenever I got stressed out I jumped on the four-wheeler after school and went zipping through mud puddles until I felt better.
Anyhoo. Time to turn that teacher-workroom-turned-treasure-trove over to somebody else, and get packed. That plane will be here some time in the next two days.
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For your further edification:
John Brown’s Body (poem) – Wikipedia
Pulitzer Prize | History, Winners, & Facts | Britannica
Additional side note: This poem is book-length. I promise you, though, that line about the scalping knife is in there somewhere.
Evelyn, I can assure you there is nothing about you that pisses people off! You are very easy to get along with! But I can understand how dealing with student misbehavior can pose that question to a thoughtful person. I’m impressed you’re willing to sub – I truly don’t have the patience for it anymore. I did some demonstration lessons in Kalskag this past week, and I almost lost my temper a couple times within a 45 minute lesson!
Thank you, my friend. I’m upriver from Kaltag right now, but I know this is a different river from the one you were on! All good medicine to you.