Substituting Funny Story

So I'm overseeing a group of IB Biology students on Wednesday. They are working on their projects and it's a pretty low-key day: responsible students so I don't have to get on their case too much. Then out of nowhere, one kid comes up and asks to use a scalpel. Probably a normal request in a Biology lab, but still one that causes hesitation. I respond by suggesting the use of scissors, which turned out to be totally appropriate since they were merely cutting braided nylon rope. A few minutes later, the same student with the same sheepishly apprehensive grin comes up and asks for some matches to light a Bunsen burner. I allowed myself to be talked into letting them use it, with the caveat that they would wear all the necessary protective equipment. A couple minutes later, you guessed it, the same student comes up asking if I know where the switch for the exhaust fan is. I don't have any clue. Starting to smell the smoke myself, I put the kibosh on the whole operation fearing that our classroom would trigger the fire alarm. Thankfully there was only 2 minutes left in the period. Whew!

Subbing Update

I’ve been inside all week. I’m getting restless and I‘m ready to get out and enjoy the snow this weekend. But I can’t complain about being employed and gaining an income. It’s going to be very difficult to settle back into a full-time job for the Forest Service again this summer and then graduate school in the Fall.

This week, I wore the hat of English teacher on Monday and am now playing the role of Chemistry teacher for four days in a row. The teacher I’m subbing for is a good friend of mine as well as a chem teacher when I was in High School. Evidently he trusts me quite a bit because he has given me a pretty loose reign with regard to sub plans. The AP kids in first period have had a rough week of it, taking practice tests the past three days. Tomorrow however, I’m teaching an introductory lesson on organic compound nomenclature. That’s right. I am finally teaching something rather than handing out a worksheet or popping in a video. As for general chemistry, the teacher left some videos that he made about the states of matter and inter/intramolecular attraction. I’ve had the students watch the videos for fear that I would leave something important out, all the while adding in examples and making sure everything makes sense to the students. This afternoon I plan on getting “out” of the videos a little bit and trying to lecture a little since the videos were putting the students to sleep…

Between substitute teaching and teaching a class at church on 1 Peter, I’ve been getting a solid dose of what it feels like to be in the position of knowledge and influence. There is a lot of pressure when you stand up in front of people and claim to have a firm enough grasp on information to be able to impart some of that knowledge on to them. I feel like most of what we do mirrors characteristics of God, our creator. At this point in my life I can relate to the image of Jesus as a teacher. The responsibility is intense but the reward is big.