For those of you just tuning in, "This Guy is Falling" follows the educational exploits of Mr. Birds-Eye, a high school teacher in his third year of teaching, traditionally the make or break year in the profession. Fearing that he has finally reached his wits end, Birds-Eye decides to write a blog in hopes that he can reboot his year by focusing on the positives of the profession.
And I'm happy to report that it's been working.
Teaching is all about repetition. I teach two sections (three junior classes/two sophomores) so over the course of a day I repeat myself a lot. Students hate repetition. They get bored easily so they try their best to take me off the beaten track, aka a tangent. Occasionally, I humor them.
Hey, I get bored too!
Here's such an exchange:
INT. CLASSROOM - DAY
Girl - Mr. Birds-Eye, is a fish a fish?
Me - What?
Girl - Is a fish a fish? Like a whale is mammal, but it swims. I'm confused.
Me - Yeah, a fish is a species. You also got reptiles, mammals, amphibians, birds, and fish.
Girl - Then why don't you say I'm eating a mammal when you're eating a steak?
Me - Because it'd be too confusing. You could be eating a cow, or a sheep, or a...
Other Student - ...Human.
Girl - Ooohhh!
Other Student - Hey, we're mammals too!
END SCENE
And that in a nutshell is why I still like teaching.
Signing off.
Birds-Eye
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