Back to School

I got a call around lunch time on Wednesday from a local high school, asking how fast I could get there to sub for a teacher who was going home sick. I got there pretty fast (in spite of somehow locking my keys in my car), and taught computer applications and a couple variations on shop for the rest of the afternoon. There was a note from the regular shop teacher restricting subs from using or allowing use of the power tools, which was a shame because they had some pretty neat stuff. And so (as often happens when I sub), I put the provided video into the machine, discouraged the students from sleeping too openly, and got out my knitting. Theoretically I made a whole $35, but I've set up my pay at the school so that most of what I make goes directly to taxes. (I'm hoping this will go at least a little way to counterbalance the taxes not being paid while I'm on the dole.) But even setting aside the stupendous amounts of cash paid to substitute teachers, it's kinda just fun to do.


I really like teenagers. There were 3 half-hearted Mohawks in my first class, which cracked me up, so I broke the ice talking about how interesting it was to see such classic haircuts coming back and about a guy back in the day with a blue 4" Mohawk waxed into spikes. During the welding segment we talked restoring muscle cars - or rather, they did, and then I countered with stories about VWs. And after the 8th graders saw the the video about airplanes from the "extreme machines" series, I told them about C-130 gunships and how they get knocked sideways 10' in the air every time the big gun goes off. (One of the kids suggested that would be a good evasive maneuver for a mid-air collision. I told him I didn't think that was quite the purpose the designers had in mind.)


They want me to come back Tuesday and teach math for a day. That should be fun.