Last Friday, every single A.P. English student walked into the room and, whether they will admit it or not, celebrated in some manner. High fives were exchanged, people shouted in delight, and general merriment ensued - we had a substitute teacher! But our happiness quickly turned to confusion and even despair as the class began - this substitute was... well... weird. There is no other way to put it. The first thing that struck me was his physical appearance - he was rather tall, with glasses, middle-parted hair, and a beard to rival that of Chase Plante. His head was oddly shaped, with a very small chin but disproportionally large forehead and upper skull. This gave his head the look of a balloon. I believe it was Thomas that told him he looked like Dwight K. Schrute, of The Office fame. This prompted the sub to begin quoting Dwight: "Bears... beets... Battlestar Galactica." So to be honest, after a few short minutes of class, I knew this man was not cool (his name eludes me at the moment).
Then, of course, he began "teaching." Most substitute teachers understand that they have no idea what is happening in the class they are attempting to teach, and they stay out of the way and let the class run its course. This sub, however, seemed to think he knew a great deal about One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. It was apparent, though, that this was not the case - he knew characters' names but next to nothing about the plot of the book and whatnot. After each person spoke in class, he would interrupt and summarize their points - presumably to appear more intelligent. I later learned from students in sixth period English and Words Words Words that this man had been reading the book all day (he had never read it before), and even took notes on the discussion during sixth period. One student told me that the sub had asked for a definition of situational irony in sixth period. So during eighth period, we were seeing the best this sub had to offer - he had studied all day but knew very little about the book, and he still attempted to discuss it with us.
Although I applaud this substitute's effort and commitment to his work, I must say that many of the students with which I spoke were quite frustrated by him. I personally found him entertaining. It was interesting to see essentially the polar opposite of Ms. Serensky teach our class - he was animated and actively involved in discussions, he did not seem to know very much about our book or English in general, and he had an abundance of facial hair. Although I enjoyed this teaching style for a change, I do not think I would like it very much long term. I think I am actually beginning to appreciate Ms. Serensky.
Alex, I also felt entertained by Mr. Moor. Although he was a bit odd looking and had geeky mannerisms I would say that he was an above average sub. His enthusiasm really struck me. In our class, he stood in the middle of the circle and conversed with the different groups about the book. Overall, I thought he did a good job and enabled us to have a relatively less stressful English class.
ReplyDeleteAlex, I wrote about the sub too! Thank you Jimmy for reminding me of his name, which I somehow forgot. I must say that your allusions to Mr. Moor as Dwight from the office were quite humorous. He seemed to really enjoy our class and I'm glad he was able to learn literary devices. I however did not enjoy his teaching and felt stressed out at his unusual ways. I hope Ms. Serensky will be back tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteI found Mr. Moor entertaining at first, then frustrating. At one point during our discussion, after we had just discussed the extended metaphor of "The Combine" in class, he turned to me and Lizzy Halper and asked if the Combine was a physical object in the book. Personally, I wish that he had just let us run our own discussion instead of making us take turns by group and pretending to understand what we were talking about.
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ReplyDeleteI also agree that his approach to the class proved to be interesting. When he first announced that a discussion would take place I found myself hopeful that it would be a smooth discussion without everyone fighting to talk. However once he actually started the discussion it turned out to be what I thought was even worse then when we fight to talk in a normal everyday discussion.
ReplyDeleteThe geekiness or how "uncool" he was didn't bother me at all, to be honest. The only thing that really got on my nerves is when someone would make a comment and he just HAD to summarize it. Mr. Whatshisface only slowed down discussion to a screeching halt, or to a three-legged turtle pace at best.
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