Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 59713 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 299(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59713 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 299(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
“Can I get either of you a coffee?” she asked.
“That would be wonderful. Thank you, Ruth,” Mr. Wayne said. “Camilla?”
I nodded. “That would be great. Thank you.”
“How do you take yours?” Ruth asked.
“Black,” I said.
“Easy enough,” she said with a grin. “Maybe you can influence that one a bit. He likes a little bit of coffee with his cream and sugar.”
She made a disapproving face and nodded toward the principal, who threw his hands up in the air like he was showing his innocence. She walked away, and Mr. Wayne laughed before turning his attention back to me.
“How are you doing this morning?” he asked.
“Good.” I grimaced slightly. Here I was, sitting in a high school preparing to become a teacher, and I was throwing out improper grammar in my first conversation. “Well.”
He laughed again. “It’s okay. There’s no need to be nervous. You’re going to do just fine.”
I smiled gratefully. I was already feeling more at ease. Ruth brought the coffee, and we sipped it as Mr. Wayne went over some details with me. When he was finished, he stood and gestured toward the door.
“Let me show you around and get you acquainted with the school. It might seem overwhelming at first, but I promise you’ll get used to it,” he said. “Hopefully I’ll be able to introduce you to a few people before the students start showing up too.”
We walked around the building, and he showed me how it was broken up into different wings that consolidated classes of similar types together. I discovered the hallways had names like streets. The classrooms were then numbered, which meant each of them had an “address” like a house. Rather than just saying to look for a certain number of the classroom, they were presented as the number and the name of the hallway, making it easier to find.
“I would have loved a system like that when I was in school,” I told Mr. Wayne. “Trying to find the classrooms on the first day of classes was always so daunting. Even after I was in the school for a couple years, I was still nervous about it before the first day.”
He laughed. “I think that’s pretty common. That’s why we did it this way. That way none of us get lost. Even us adults.”
As he toured me around, he made stops to introduce me to different teachers and then to the guidance counselor. When we got back to the office, he introduced me to Ruby, the vice-principal. She smiled at me warmly.
“Have lunch with me today,” she invited. “Eloise and I will get you all caught up with the school.”
I recognized the name of the counselor and smiled. “I’d love to. Thanks.”
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t just hear you invite her to come gossip with you,” Mr. Wayne said with mock chiding.
“Gossip is such an unpleasant word,” Ruby said. “I’m just offering to give her more insight into the school and its inner workings.”
Lunch with them was a highlight of the day. Just like I thought, they didn’t say anything nasty. There were a few funny stories and a couple of rumors they wanted to give me a heads-up about, but for the most part we talked about the school itself, its programs, sports, the theater department. Like they were still trying to sell me on it.
They didn’t need to. I was already feeling happy and in my element in this school. It was a fantastic feeling, and it was only going to get better.
After lunch, it was time for me to shadow the man I would hopefully get to replace.
Mr. Proctor was a staple of the school, I already knew. He’d been teaching for over thirty years, and everybody adored him. I could tell why. I really liked him right from the get-go and had a blast watching him teach, following him around, and helping out when I could. I would have loved having a teacher like him when I was younger. He obviously cared so much about his students and really wanted them to succeed.
I could also tell it wasn’t an easy decision for him to retire. He wanted to be able to spend more time with his wife and grandkids and just relax, travel, and get into some of his hobbies, but he would also miss teaching. He lit up when he was around the kids and got passionate and excited when talking about computers. It would be a major shift for him to not have that every day.
After the last class of the day, I sat with Mr. Proctor in the teacher’s lounge, drinking another cup of coffee as we talked.
We chatted about the position and exactly what he wanted and expected from me. I wasn’t going to exactly replicate his teaching style or his class structure, and he didn’t want me to. He wanted me to find my own way, but it was still important to him that the class be handled the right way.