that standard. All I could
do was try to turn it back around. If they followed my lead, great. If not …
I heard a rustling
coming from one of the guys sitting near Charlie. He’d decided to sneak nacho
cheese-flavored chips in class. I decided I barely cared. I had never specified
a “No food during class” rule. I just wished he would pay more attention to the
lecture than his snack. Or at the very least, learn to snack quietly. It only
made my assessment about the attention span of my students appear that much
less promising.
I glanced over at
Charlie to find that sometime in the past few minutes, she’d turned an awkward
shade of green. She glanced over at Chip Boy and wrinkled her nose. She then
looked up at me for a moment, covering her mouth with her hand. Without further
warning, she jumped up from her chair and bolted out the door.
I stared helplessly
after her for a few seconds before turning back to the rest of the class. I
wanted to go after her. She was clearly in some sort of distress. I didn’t know
what I could do to help, but I felt as if I needed to be with her. But then,
there was my lecture. I did have a job to do, after all. I studied each of the
other students’ faces. Most of them had paid more attention to her sudden
evacuation than they had the entire lecture up to that point.
I sighed in defeat. Although
I had hoped, I can’t say I expected any different from them. “How many of you
actually read the assignment?” I asked. “It’s okay. Be honest.” I carefully
counted hands that went up. Ten out of thirty. It was worse than I’d thought. “Right.
I think we can call it a day. Before we meet again, I want you to read the last
assignment and the next assignment. We’ll discuss them both next time … after I give you all a quiz on the material that you should have already read before
even coming today. It will count toward your final grade.”
I heard groans
throughout the room, mostly from those who had held their hands up only minutes
before. Was I teaching college? I seemed to have stumbled into a classroom of
high schoolers. They had no room to complain. They paid to sit in my
class.
“Seriously, guys. If
you want to pass this class, you have to actually work. I shouldn’t have to
tell you that. You’re all dismissed. Use your new free time wisely. If you
wanted to, you could probably even have it read before this class would have
otherwise been over, anyways.”
As the class packed up
their books, I hurried out the door to find Charlie. The halls were empty, with
the exception of a few lingering students and Jimmy, the custodian, who was
busy cleaning a soda spill off the tile. Jimmy was an older man, a retired Army
sergeant. Although I felt custodial work was beneath him, he seemed to enjoy
it. Plus, he was good at it. Apparently all those years in the service gave him
impeccable attention to detail.
“Jimmy, did you see a
girl leave my class a few minutes ago?” I asked. “Shoulder-length brown hair,
blue eyes. About this tall.” I held my hand up so he could see.
“Yeah,” Jimmy grumbled.
He gestured to the restrooms. “She just took off into the ladies room. She
seemed to be in a hurry. Nearly knocked my cart over.”
I always wondered what
it was about women’s restrooms that made men so nervous. I completely understood
why women were a bit wary of men’s rooms. They were usually disgusting. W omen weren’t generally
so bad. But for whatever reason, their restrooms were like some forbidden
territory. At any rate, I stood with my hand on the door for a minute before
finally gaining the courage to open it.
I carefully pushed the
door open a crack. “Charlie?” I called. “Are you in there?”
“Yeah,” came Charlie’s
voice. She sounded weak.
“Are you okay?”
“I don’t know. I just
…” I heard the deep, telltale splash of vomit hitting water. “No. No, I’m not.”
I paced within the
couple feet in front of the door, frantically
do was try to turn it back around. If they followed my lead, great. If not …
I heard a rustling
coming from one of the guys sitting near Charlie. He’d decided to sneak nacho
cheese-flavored chips in class. I decided I barely cared. I had never specified
a “No food during class” rule. I just wished he would pay more attention to the
lecture than his snack. Or at the very least, learn to snack quietly. It only
made my assessment about the attention span of my students appear that much
less promising.
I glanced over at
Charlie to find that sometime in the past few minutes, she’d turned an awkward
shade of green. She glanced over at Chip Boy and wrinkled her nose. She then
looked up at me for a moment, covering her mouth with her hand. Without further
warning, she jumped up from her chair and bolted out the door.
I stared helplessly
after her for a few seconds before turning back to the rest of the class. I
wanted to go after her. She was clearly in some sort of distress. I didn’t know
what I could do to help, but I felt as if I needed to be with her. But then,
there was my lecture. I did have a job to do, after all. I studied each of the
other students’ faces. Most of them had paid more attention to her sudden
evacuation than they had the entire lecture up to that point.
I sighed in defeat. Although
I had hoped, I can’t say I expected any different from them. “How many of you
actually read the assignment?” I asked. “It’s okay. Be honest.” I carefully
counted hands that went up. Ten out of thirty. It was worse than I’d thought. “Right.
I think we can call it a day. Before we meet again, I want you to read the last
assignment and the next assignment. We’ll discuss them both next time … after I give you all a quiz on the material that you should have already read before
even coming today. It will count toward your final grade.”
I heard groans
throughout the room, mostly from those who had held their hands up only minutes
before. Was I teaching college? I seemed to have stumbled into a classroom of
high schoolers. They had no room to complain. They paid to sit in my
class.
“Seriously, guys. If
you want to pass this class, you have to actually work. I shouldn’t have to
tell you that. You’re all dismissed. Use your new free time wisely. If you
wanted to, you could probably even have it read before this class would have
otherwise been over, anyways.”
As the class packed up
their books, I hurried out the door to find Charlie. The halls were empty, with
the exception of a few lingering students and Jimmy, the custodian, who was
busy cleaning a soda spill off the tile. Jimmy was an older man, a retired Army
sergeant. Although I felt custodial work was beneath him, he seemed to enjoy
it. Plus, he was good at it. Apparently all those years in the service gave him
impeccable attention to detail.
“Jimmy, did you see a
girl leave my class a few minutes ago?” I asked. “Shoulder-length brown hair,
blue eyes. About this tall.” I held my hand up so he could see.
“Yeah,” Jimmy grumbled.
He gestured to the restrooms. “She just took off into the ladies room. She
seemed to be in a hurry. Nearly knocked my cart over.”
I always wondered what
it was about women’s restrooms that made men so nervous. I completely understood
why women were a bit wary of men’s rooms. They were usually disgusting. W omen weren’t generally
so bad. But for whatever reason, their restrooms were like some forbidden
territory. At any rate, I stood with my hand on the door for a minute before
finally gaining the courage to open it.
I carefully pushed the
door open a crack. “Charlie?” I called. “Are you in there?”
“Yeah,” came Charlie’s
voice. She sounded weak.
“Are you okay?”
“I don’t know. I just
…” I heard the deep, telltale splash of vomit hitting water. “No. No, I’m not.”
I paced within the
couple feet in front of the door, frantically
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