Prairie View

Saturday, April 05, 2008

Night School--Part 3

"Can we please turn off the lights?" the students begged during typing class. "At least for a little while?"

"OK" I agreed. And so it was that when Mr. Schrock popped in to tell me something, the only light in the room came from the blue screen of each computer monitor. But each student's face was well illuminated, and I rather enjoyed the guilt-free time of watching them work. I couldn't see to do anything at my desk. The novel atmosphere did not hinder the typing effort at all. Nobody set a new speed record though. Emily had done so earlier in the day--91 adjusted words per minute.

Larry, our school administrator and one of the church trustees, came during school to do some repair jobs. He was fixing the window blind adjustment knob on one of the windows in the typing room during the break. I suspect he got an earful from this "wired" bunch of students.

During German class, after I was occupying my appointed place in the learning center, Holli came up with a big grin. I sensed a special request in the making. "You know how nice it is to be outside at night sometimes?" she began.

"Yes. I know that. I've often enjoyed the outdoors at night," I grinned back.

"May I go outside? I have all my goals done, and nothing really to do. Would this help you decide?" She plunked the second Reese's cup of the evening on my desk.

"I think that would be alright," I said. "Oh, are you on "E" privilege?"

"No, 'cause I flunked my Algebra test." (This kind of thing happens for her only in algebra.)

"OK, ten minutes only then."

"And, can I take someone with me? We're social creatures, you know." How well I know.

"OK." She plunked down the third Reese's cup.

"We must have more people on "E" than I thought," Wes told me after German class. "There were people peeping in the windows during class."

Confession time. I told him the "Holli" story. "I think I'm being shamelessly bribed," I told Wes. "And I'm an all-too-willing accomplice."

"Yeah. Like you said in staff meeting. Sometimes it pays off to let them think they're getting one over on us."

0 Comments:

Post a Comment



<< Home