Shop Class

Tuesday, October 10, 2023

Sometimes I just make myself laugh. I picked up a sub job at high school for a Tech Ed position. I thought that meant computers because computers are tech. So wrong. I was subbing for what I would have called Industrial Ed – shop class. My first three hours were woodworking and my last two were auto mechanics. Are you laughing now, too?

The first class was perfect. The teacher left two videos for them to watch on their computers, then they were supposed to sand the things that they had cut on the scroll saw. Done, done, and done.

Second hour was much more phone oriented. Get. Off. Your. Phone. Once that was wrangled (sort of) I became aware of an absolutely terrific conversation. An 11^th grader was telling a 9^th grader that one of the middle school principals was her grandfather. He is about 40, so the math on that is not good. The 9^th grader was willing to believe it except the girl and the principal have different last names. The girl said that is because her mom is the principal’s daughter. That he could not believe. It went on and on and I couldn’t decide if I should intervene and make them stop or if the damage was already done. I actually tried to discount the story after a bit, but the 9^th grader was having none of it. I went away and left them to their chitchat. Wrong? Definitely. Ridiculous? Definitely.

Third hour was insane. They didn’t want to believe they couldn’t use power saws and stain things and get some chisels out to try to whittle a long thin board into a shower rod (yet referred to as a shower curtain) (have you ever tried unsuccessfully to explain the difference between a shower curtain and shower rod? It is a very weird experience, and you start to wonder if you are speaking English). They also thought they should dig through the scrap wood pile and use anything stick shape to virtually golf, or play baseball, or sword fight.

Again, I am at HIGH SCHOOL. There was a lot of wide-eyed confusion when I took the sticks away. That is both hilarious and sad.

You think woodworking was fun? Next, I had Auto mechanics. Hahahahahahaha!! The bathroom pass was a piston. Or so they said, because I do not know what a piston is. These guys didn’t have access to sticks, but they were phone crazed. I ended up actually having to take 9 phones because they could not put them away. There was an online Ford training they were supposed to take until they passed – an actual learning thing that is being recorded, but I couldn’t get them to do it.

Classes switched and I got six women. They worked the entire hour. I guess if you are a woman taking auto mechanics, you actually want to be there and you do the work. Yay for that.

I had a student whom I knew from middle school. I remembered him immediately when he walked in the room. He was not very successful at going to school in middle school and I was honestly thrilled that he was still in school. It was startling how entirely he looks like a man (11^th grade) and still looks like a little 7^th grader. He was very enthusiastic about my being there and called me by name right away. I’m not gonna lie – that always makes me feel good, but when it’s a kid that didn’t like school, it feels even better. I like to be a good memory.