That happened towards the end of the day, though. Let’s start from the beginning.
The day started off rather well. As I entered the school, I walked through the hallway singing Duke Ellington’s “It Don’t Mean a Thing” as I celebrated the onset of another Friday. Casual Friday. I strolled down the hall with my brown loafers, pink polo shirt, khakis, gray blazer, and a scarf casually wrapped around my shoulders. Moreover, I was sporting a new haircut. I looked good (opinion), I felt good (fact), and I was ready to teach (fact/opinion).
I began my instructional day working with a student in my Math 1 class. Most of the students were out of the class due to a JROTC ceremony in which they were participating; therefore, I was able to work mostly one-on-one with one of my students. My coteacher played the album, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” in the background, and the student and I were really making progress. The more we looked at the problems, the more confidence she had in herself and her ability to answer them correctly. “You’re smart, and you can do this,” I told her. “Math is just a series of steps, and you just have to break them down. Do that, and everything will be manageable.” As she nodded and kept working, I thought about my own high school math teacher who told me that I was actually good at math—I just lacked patience. It’s funny how words from so long ago can continue to inspire us and enable us to inspire others.
Next, I had physics. One of the kids saw my new haircut when I came into the classroom and said, “Mr. Seegars got a fresh cut!” I smiled. Then somebody else added, “You can’t say anything to somebody once they have a fresh cut…I’m getting me one after school!” I laughed as my co-teacher began the lesson.
So, physics. Today was one of those days in which I was in an amazing groove. Although, I have been in the class as a co-teacher since earlier in the semester, I felt a sense of comfort and command over what I taught today that I had not felt previously. I had students surrounding me as I explained how to manipulate equations for different variables. I quizzed the students as I urged them to apply their knowledge of kinetic and potential energy at higher levels of thought and analysis. It was so much fun.
Next was the planning period in which I enjoyed a meatloaf and mashed potatoes and gravy microwave dinner. It was absolutely fantastic. I did some paperwork during this time for some of the students on my caseload (special education stuff). Then it was time for the last period of the day:
Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story of that period of the day skilled in all ways of contending. Sing to me of those students, who after lunch have become filled with sugar and salt and proceed to wander through the hallways and ravage the nerves of teachers with brutal savagery.
Today, I flipped out for the first time. Like really flipped out.
So, I was walking through the hallway with a student 15 minutes into the last period. I noticed a group of about 30 students making a lot of noise on the other side of the hallway. I had a lot of stuff to get through, so I just kind of glanced that way in order to see if it was a fight, but it did not seem like it; therefore I continued to walk back to my classroom.
Suddenly, I looked back at the crowd and I saw a student stretched out on top of a cart on his stomach as if it were a surfboard. Another student was pushing him while running at full speed—both were laughing and being followed along by the cheering and laughing crowd of students.
Immediately, I ran toward them screaming, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” The person with the cart pushed it away from him (toward me), and began to run around and past me, just like the rest of the students. The student on the cart ran, too. I ran after all the kids, and zoned in on the kid who had been on the cart.
They ran through double doors, and I ended up grabbing the kid who had been on the cart. He then squirmed away, and took off in the other direction. I ran full speed behind him (still in loafers), while kids cheered, “RUN, RUN, RUN!” I was too upset to let him get away.
Finally, two other teachers stepped in the way and blocked him by the lockers, and when I caught up, I was furious. “WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, “ I screamed. “ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND??!! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW DANGEROUS THAT WAS??!!” I was so upset that I hit the locker.
A battalion of teachers had finally reached the scene, and the hallways cleared up. The student was taken downstairs, but I was in a lousy mood for the rest of the day.
As I was about to leave school, ready for the weekend, one of my physic students saw me. “Have a good weekend Mr. Fresh Cut,” he said. I smiled, and told him to have a good one as well.
I whistled “It Don’t Mean a Thing” as I walked to my car, smiling between phrases.
