Williams Behind the Teacher's Desk

The Rules were Made for Everyone but Me
1. Auflage 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4835-1185-6
Verlag: BookBaby
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 315 Seiten

A secondary school science teacher tries to balance her personal life and her career against increasing responsibilities, extra-curricular obligations, pie-in-the-sky policies, rebellious students and their absentee or helicopter parents, during the drama and heart-ache that occur in one semester of the school year.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Williams, Chris

Leseproben

Chapter 2: The Ripple Effect At ten-thirty Chin Ho was waiting for her in the science office. “Good morning, Claire, how are you?” A sombre look clouded his friendly face. “Better sit down.” Claire sat. Chin had taken his spectacles off and sat in front of her cradling his tired head in his hands. “It was Paul Fraser who was run down last night in the parking lot. He had worked late.” He lifted his head. “We don’t know what happened. Jethro Mason found him around four-thirty. It was damn lucky he saw him lying on the ground with all that snow coming down.” Chin paused to gather his thoughts. “He must have been walking to his car. Visibility was terrible and there was black ice underneath everything after that thaw the other day.” Claire was stunned. Paul was a Math colleague and good friend. “But how could somebody just leave him there?” Tears pooled in Claire’s deep brown eyes. “I don’t know. Maybe it was a drunk, a student, or just anyone turning around in the parking lot and blinded by the storm. Who knows?” Claire’s face was ashen. Her knees felt weak. She wanted to escape. Chin took a deep breath. The news was weighing heavily on him. “The police are investigating. Poor Deirdre was beside herself when she called Bertha Stack last night. They don’t have any leads, but Paul’s alive…struggling, but alive.” “Oh God.” Claire liked Paul—she didn’t want to think of him in the past tense. He is a kind colleague, husband and father, a creative, popular teacher who always has a joke on the tip of his tongue. She wondered how the staff could help his wife and family. “He won’t be back this semester,” Chin said gently. He stood up and stepped to his desk, putting his spectacles back on. “I’ll be brief. They’ve had to reshuffle the timetable. You’re getting Paul’s basic Math class.” Chin took a sheet of paper off his desk. “Here’s your new schedule.” Grade ten general science and grade eleven university-bound biology in the morning, grade nine basic math in the afternoon. She looked at Chin, shaking her head. “I know what you’re about to ask, Claire. Nobody else with any Math knowledge had a moveable slot at the right time for his schedule. Sorry. You’re not the only one who hates last minute stuff. Here are your class lists and course outlines. I know you’ll do your best for these kids.” “It won’t be as good as Paul would have done. Who else got new classes? Who got my Sociologie class?” She’d asked before she realised it. Chin looked through some memos on his desk and chose one. “Don Patterson and Gérard Coderre. They’ve hired a new French-speaking teacher to teach Gérard’s French immersion Littérature class, and his Entrepreneurship.” He frowned. “Your Sociologie class goes to her too. Sorry. I know how much you’ve been preparing for that. Principal Stack was really keen on her. Shirley had reservations but she had to concede that this girl’s French is better than that of the only other candidate and sociology is one of her passions.” “So she’s young, not ideal, but she’s as close as they can get with the short notice,” Claire muttered, rolling her eyes. “I’d trust Shirley’s people skills over Bertha’s any day of the week.” Chin cleared his throat. “Me too. But that’s it. Gérard will take Don’s science classes and Don will take Paul’s senior Math classes.” Claire’s mind was flipping from one issue to another. “But, who could have hit Paul?” “I don’t know. I’ve been thinking about it all morning. Everybody likes Paul, except maybe Chester. Paul has been ribbing him for years about the mess in his classroom. We’ve all had problems with students over the years, but nothing that would warrant…” Angus Bertch, the physics teacher had just come in. “No way it could have been Chester, Chin.” he interrupted. He always legs it out of school as fast as he can when the bell rings. With that storm he would never have been near this place as late as four o’clock yesterday, let alone four-thirty. He’s worse than the kids…” “But are they saying it could have been intentional? Did someone hit Paul on purpose?” Claire asked. Chin shook his head. “I don’t know. That was the impression Bertha gave this morning.” “But she does have a habit of blaming teachers and leaving us waiting for the other shoe to drop,” quipped Angus. Claire sat at her desk staring at the papers Chin had given her. “What do we say to the kids?” “Bertha’s orders: we’re not to say anything to the students about the accident, just about Paul’s condition.” Chin responded quickly. “Keep the gossip to a minimum. The police want us to keep what happened confidential in case it was a student. And Bertha doesn’t want to give them any ideas. Hopefully, by the time classes start next week the police will have it all figured out. Until then, we soldier on.” Angus gave her a sympathetic look. “Yes, sir.” Claire gave them a weak smile and a mock salute. “Let’s talk about something else, Claire,” said Chin. There was a pause. “Anything good happen in your life lately? I need some good news.” “Matt gave me a puppy last night. He should’ve asked first.” She ran her fingers through her auburn curls, as if that would clear her head. “Keep it.” Chin snapped. Claire looked up in surprise. “People with pets are less stressed.” He looked at her. “On a scale of one to ten, I’d classify you as a fifteen since September. It’ll do you good to walk a dog for a bit every day after school. Not everything is solved by work.” “I’m keeping him, Chin.” “Good girl.” She scanned her class lists, recognizing some names for reputable, others for disreputable reasons. She didn’t know the new basic Math group at all. Chin rolled his chair back and looked at her. “Claire, you look like shit. Go home to your puppy.” “Thanks, Chin.” She left for the privacy of her lab. Angus watched her go. *** After collecting her thoughts, the enormity of a whole new course with virtually no prep time hit Claire. She would need a lot of help teaching a basic Math class. She knew the theory. Tyler had taught basic level students, but she had never done it herself. During the three years they had lived together, Tyler had stressed that basic students had poor work habits, lots of family and learning issues and poor attendance. She remembered him saying that basic kids needed a good course with simple explanations and plenty of practice exercises. Claire had zilch. In the learning resource room, Brian McLean, the learning resource teacher or L.R.T., reminded her George Gumbersahl could be the answer to her problem. Nicknamed ‘Gumless’ by the kids, because he was the lone holdout on staff who wouldn’t let them chew gum in class, George had taught basic Math for years. Claire sighed with relief. She rushed to the other end of the first floor. George was in his classroom in the Math wing, doing what Claire had been doing earlier that week: throwing things out and preparing for Monday’s onslaught. She tapped on the open door. “Hi, George,” she said. She hesitated. George looked distraught. Paul was his friend, too. “How are you? I’d say good morning, but it isn’t.” George, an independent, good-natured widower whose children were all grown, always wore a cheap but neat grey pinstriped suit. The grey helped to mitigate the chalk his jacket picked up as he demonstrated solutions on the blackboard. He was of the generation that stood up when a woman entered the room. “I suppose I’m as well as can be expected. How about you?” “Same as you. Shocked, saddened, worried for Paul, having trouble taking it all in, and wanting to quit.” “Ah, yes, Bandhura Abbasi told me they gave you Paul’s freshman basic Math class. Even though you look like you’re about to keel over Claire, don’t quit. You’ll do a great job for the kids.” There was a twinkle in his eye as he offered her a chair. Claire sat down. “Brian told me you’ve taught the basic Math course and you might have some ideas for me.” “Well, he knows that I’ve written a self-directed course for it.” “Yeah. He told me that too.” Claire blushed. “Twenty lessons.” She knew about their friendly rivalry. “He did, did he? Isn’t that just like that old board toady, assuming I’ll just give away twelve years of my work.” George’s face reddened and his eyes bulged. Claire thought that if he were a cartoon, his ears...