The Bare Necessities of Life Will Come to You

I’m going to be completely upfront and honest; I spent about 80% of this weekend inside of my house watching movies and reading. I know, I know, I go to this amazing tropical island covered with mountains and surrounded by coral and all I do is sit inside! Trust me, my logic was sound. Not only am I fighting a virus (raspy cough, stuffy nose, tough to breathe. No fun at all.), but the school week was rather difficult. To top it all off, it rained pretty much all week including the weekend so there wasn’t really much to do anyways. Of course, that doesn’t mean that this week was without any good stories.

I haven’t talked about school in a while and that is partially because I’m trying to get my head around it. It seems unfair to try to explain my classes and my students to you before I really understand them myself. Just know that my class sizes have grown to about 10-14 (plus my 19 student reading class) and that my classroom is the worst place in the world. I should explain.

My current classroom, that will probably be my classroom for the rest of the year, was designed as a Chemistry prep room. Yes, as in the place where all the chemicals are supposed to be stored. Although, I’m not sure how they were planning on storing anything in there because, when I moved in, it had nothing more than two doors, white walls and white floors. There were no cabinets or shelves, no white board, and no desks. The first week, I had one student desk that I used for myself while the students sat on the floor; the second week, I got a whiteboard; and this week one of the other science teachers lent me a table and my department head found me 9 plastic chairs (still not enough for my tiny classes and nowhere for the students to write on). Frankly, I’m lucky to have even that because, between all the science teachers in the science building, we have barely enough tables and chairs for one classroom. I’m just grateful that the other teachers are so friendly and willing to share.

To those of you who are astonished that anyone could teach in such conditions, know that it’s not really anyone’s fault and that it gets worse. The reason I say that it’s not anyone’s fault is that we are in a brand new building that, technically, isn’t even finished. There are still two labs that need to be completed (maybe a prep room or two). So, technically, we weren’t supposed to move into the building until October and, thus, none of the equipment has actually arrived (To be honest, no one has actually told us that desks and chairs are on their way. We’re just kind of assuming/hoping that someone is taking care of it. I guess we’ll find out soon.)

Here is where it gets worse. If you noticed, I didn’t mention my room having any windows. After all, what does a prep room need windows for? I mean, it has got glass so that you can see into the classroom but no windows to the outside. Well, the science building is supposed to be air conditioned. Unfortunately, the central air unit needed more power than the out dated power lines could provide. Yes, you guessed it, we’ve been without for a week and a half and my room is filled with hot, stale air. As much as I try to get some air flow by opening the doors, by the end of the day, the room is unbearable.

As I’m sure you’ve surmised, classroom management is a nightmare. I’m constantly bombarded with comments like “Mr. Feak, it’s so hot” and questions like, “can we, please, go sit outside?” Sometimes, I do take them outside but, more often than not, I have to tell them that I know and ask them to sit down and try to do their work. After all, I hate it just as much as they do.  

After a week of that combined with a few unruly students, I was ready for a long weekend.

The first thing I did when I got out of school on Friday was go to the E.R. Like I said, I have a virus. I just wanted to make sure it wasn’t anything worse. Surprisingly, it wasn’t that bad of an experience. I sat in the air-conditioned waiting room for about two hours watching PBS. I’d forgotten how much shows like Arthur and Clifford stress being a good person. Makes me wonder what happens to all of those lessons by the time kids reach high school. Despite my enjoyment of being reminded to not tease people and to not let others take the blame for you, what made me most excited was when an episode of Curious George subtly taught the concept of torque! For those who don’t know what torque is, look it up. While I’m sure it went over the head of every child there as well as any adult who wasn’t in the middle of reading a physics related book (probably everyone other than myself), I was super excited. Hey, it’s the little things in life…Eventually, I did get to see the doctor. He diagnosed it as a virus, gave me some antibiotics just in case, and told me to rest, get lots of water, and stay out of the sun. For the most part, I did.

That night, while my roommate, Beth, went to the East side of the island for the start of an adventurous weekend, my other roommate, Sarah Foley, and I watched The Grey. It was a decent movie but it hit a little too close to home. True, American Samoa is the complete opposite of the frozen tundra. However, most of the dogs on the island that aren’t strays are guard dogs and, if they catch you in their territory, they have been known to attack. They usually back off if you’ve got a big stick or a rock (no spears with flare rounds required), but they can still be pretty scary. Some, however, aren’t nearly that bad. For instance, one puppy, she can’t be more than a few months old, has taken to lying on our front step in the middle of the day. We have named her Rosie. She is very sweet and she loves to be petted. We might even buy her some dog treats.

As for the rest of the weekend, it was spent reading and watching movies. I finished the book I started when I first got here, “The Physics of Superheroes”. I know, physics and comic books, could I get any more nerdy? But it is actually a great book. If you’re like me and love superheroes and science or you just want to learn a little bit of physics without having to listen to a professor drone on and on about Newton’s laws, then this is a perfect book. It’s got a lot of humor and information with very little math.

After I finished that book, Sarah and I watched a mockumentary (Office-style) called Chalk. The film chronicled a year in the life of four high school teachers. It was very well down and both Sarah and I especially enjoyed the story of the first year teacher. I could very easily relate.

Finally, with the rest of my time, I read Jonathan Kozol’s book, “Letters to a Young Teacher”. When I say “rest of my time”, I mean all of it. I finished the book in less than 48 hours. It was amazing. I’ve read Kozol before but this book absolutely takes the cake. A very good friend gave it to me before I left and I’m so glad that she did. It is truly a wonderful book full of wisdom for all. If you are a teacher and haven’t read it, do! If you aren’t a teacher, still read it. You will find some very poignant insight into what it is like to be a teacher and I bet you’ll even learn a thing or two about the reality of the world we live in. Some things still aren’t black AND white.