Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2008 10:16:53 GMT -8
{Note: Job request from February 25th... I forgot about it ^_^;;}
The student body president gave a hefty sigh of relief when it appeared he’d be taking over mostly freshman classes. Despite his advanced course load, it would be quite difficult to get any older students to listen to him simply because of his age. Unfortunately a teacher had become ill and had to be sent to the hospital but there were no substitutes available and so young Zachariah was going to fill in… all day. Walking into what was to be his classroom for the day, he looked over the papers that were there… the schedule and what every class was supposed to do today. Lucky a video tilted Throne of Blood, which apparently was originally made in Japan and according to the notes was an adaptation of Macbeth. In preparation he wrote in large letters that the teacher was ill that they would still have class and to just take their seats.
Saint took a seat behind the desk, making sure he was prepared and gave the schedule a last look.
Freshman class
Freshman class
Freshman class
Junior/Sophomore study hall
Lunch
Freshman class
Senior class
Thus the first bell rang and students began to pile into the classroom… here we go…
Once all the students seemingly had entered and sat down Saint stepped to the front of the classroom to explain what they would be doing and take attendance. First passing out the question sheets that had been printed off.
“Alright, your teacher is ill today and I am going to be your substitute. Most of you already know who I am but for those of you who don’t I am Zachariah Rose, the student body president, but you may call me Saint. Today you will start the film Throne of Blood, it is a Japanese film by director Akira Kurosawa based on the story Macbeth, which you are reading in class. The setting is shifted from Medieval Scotland to Feudal Japan, of course but some believe it to be the truest film adaptation of the film. As the film goes jot down the answers to the questions on this sheet and other than that enjoy. Though I warn this film is subtitled and not dubbed… sorry.”
Thus after attendance Saint started the movie and let in run all the way through class before stopping it and writing down the time on the movie where they finished. He took a few moments to clarify things using the sheet in front of him as a guide. Who was character… some more differences such as the lack of a Macduff character… the similarities witches and such. Then he dismissed the class and rewound the tape for the next class, thus the process was repeated in the same manner twice more before Saint would have to help oversee a study hall in the Library. He grabbed his books and headed down quite pleased with the chance to show a video for four of the five classes but the senior class would be quite difficult as many were checking out completely in preparation of graduation and leaving the school. All the way down the hallway he tried to think of something that would be more productive than the item the previous teacher had written down. But first he had his own work from his own classes to do during the study hall…
Once in the library Saint sat with the other teachers, technically he was own today, and introduced himself with an explanation. For the most part teachers had no problem with him, he was a smart student taking advanced course boasting a near four GPA while living on his own. He made no trouble within the school, and tried to disperse any he came across in a peaceful manner. He kind and polite to boot… he was the kind of student they all wanted because he made them look good. In fact the harm done to his GPA was due to his disappearances not actually working habits.
And so Saint took out his Algebra book and began to read through the current chapter. After two times reading it through, one scan and one full, he began to tackle the homework problems. He worked everything though, checked his work twice and made painstaking effort to note very little step even noting his thought process in the margins… all done in the neatest free-hand writing the two accompanying teachers had ever seen.
During his work a few students who were in the same class as Saint noticed him and walked over with the idea of working together on the assignment. Of course, he agreed with a kind smile and the two others sat down across from him. Until the end of the period the three did the problems pointing out thing to each other that one might have missed alone and just before the lunch bell rang out they finished.
Lunch had finally arrived and technically Saint would be able to eat in the teacher’s lounge… ha! No, the student body president did as he always did; he grabbed his lunch from his locker and made his way off campus to the Mulberry tree he’d grown so fond of. There he casually ate his chicken Caesar salad, orange, and green tea while reading a book on Eastern orthodoxy. Of course, as with any leisure time, lunch passed relatively quickly and soon the bell for the next class was ringing. Saint gathered up his items and made his way back to the classroom to repeat the process of the first three.
Unfortunately this class was more… rambunctious that the previous ones. Many students ignored the movie as it played to sleep or talk with their friends, some just up and left altogether. Saint did nothing but write the names of those individuals on a sheet of paper. He was far too peaceful a person to enforce the corporal punishment system that was in place and would leave the punishment up to the actual teacher as it was her/his class. Soon the bell rang and the remaining students departed leaving Saint alone to prepare for the senior class that was about to arrive. Lucky he’d thought so something for all of them to do that wasn’t work but might still be a learning experience…
Slowly the seniors filed in for the class, taking their seats with little interest in what was going to be the lesson today. Those that had caught wind of the original teacher being out had skipped, not even bothering to put in an appearance. As the last bell rang, Saint walked up to the front of the class to take a quick check of attendance before addressing the class with his master plan from a desk in the front that he’d spun around to face them.
“Hello, my name is Zachariah Rose. I’m your replacement teacher today so just call me Saint, and what we will do today is not what your teacher originally had planned but I feel it will be better. You’re all seniors and on the verge of graduating out into the world, so I’m curious as to what your plans are for your futures… what colleges you will attend? Are you even going to go? What do you want to study? Stuff like that… so…”
Saint waited patiently as the students glanced back and forth at each other before one decided to speak up.
“I just got my acceptance letter back from UNLV… always wanted to go there and study Hospitality so I could run a hotel or even a casino… you know?”
“What made you want to do that? If you don’t mind my asking.”
“When I was little my dad’s job had him traveling all the time and when school was out I got to go with him and I loved staying in the hotels. They were so cool… right then I knew that was what I wanted to do.”
“Cool, man.”
“How about you?”
“Me? I don’t know man… gonna find me a job and prolly take some classes at a community college until I figure something out.”
“That’s good. At least then you’ll be able to figure something out, right? Anyone else?”
“I’m going to join the army. My older brother joined and I looked up to him. He came back in his uniform, looking like the images you see in books or in the commercials, much stronger not only physically but mentally. Right there I decided I wanted to be like him.”
“Sounds like a great guy, how is he?”
“… he was actually killed in Afghanistan a couple years back.”
“I’m so sorry.”
For the rest of the period the students continued to talk amongst each other about everything they could think of… how their high school relationships would change in the future, what they wanted their spouse to be like, dream homes, dream jobs, dreams… everything. If the bell had not rung so loudly they probably would have continued until dusk. The students scattered out at the final bell while saying farewell to Saint, who enjoyed the whole experience immensely because listening to them had helped him as well. The idea of being a teacher was becoming a more and more appealing one, he could help kids grow into better people. Until today he’d never truly thought about his future in any manner… sometimes the teacher is the one learning the lesson…
