Catching A Few Winks
In his comment on yesterday's post, Cecil mentioned how funny it would be if a teacher decided to catch a few winks in the middle of class. It really cracked me up because it made me think about a guy I used to work with who did just that.Not only did T. fall asleep in class with great regularity, but he actually had a cot in his room. Now, while the kids were there, he did all his sleeping at his desk, but after hours that cot got a lot of use. I shared a (very thin) wall with the man, and I could always tell when he had fallen asleep. It got very...very...quiet.
It turns out that T. had some very shrewd students. They knew full well that if they got loud, he'd wake up! No, they chose to be as quiet as they could for as long as he was out. That way, they weren't bored by interminable lectures and, better still, didn't get homework.
I know what you're thinking. Narcolepsy, right? No, as it turns out, T. just stayed up all hours and got his sleeping done during work time.
Okay, I know what you're thinking again. Public education! Ack! Hey, I'm the first to admit that in an enormous system such as we have, there are going to be some clunkers that sneak through. And T. was by FAR the poorest teacher I have ever worked with. 99% of my colleagues have been good to excellent, people I would be happy to see teach my son. But, like in any job, there are always some teachers who lose whatever desire they once had and simply run out the clock.
And now, I pledge to spend some time telling you about some of the amazing people I work with who go way above and way beyond. Sunnyside has plenty of them, so I have fodder for dozens of blogs.
And before anyone asks...well...yeah...I got a kick out of pounding on the wall when T.'s class got quiet. Once I'm pretty sure I heard him fall out of his chair. Ain't I a stinker?
posted by Thurman8er @ 2:30 PM
2 Comments:
God bless sleeping teachers. I had a sleeping college prof once. Very funny man. Snored too.
Wow - Thanks for the props for my "sleeping comment."
I haven't taught next to a sleeper but I have taught next to a drinker who frequently fell out of his chair before he was fired.
Post a Comment
<< Home