I play a character at school, the role of “teacher”, where little mouths yell and vie for my attention using a name that still feels foreign since acquired only six months ago.
Yesterday, an eighth grader blamed me for his lowered English grade because I reported his bad behavior and failure to complete the in-class assignment. Consequently, his teacher lowered his grade. Power to the substitute!
I responded to his accusation with, “You made a choice to misbehave, to not follow directions. Everyone has a choice, everyday you have a choice, and yesterday you made the wrong one.” I wagged my finger as an odd feeling nagged me. Déjà vu.
My spiel sounded good, too good. And, suddenly, I knew why. Subconsciously, I had channeled Michele Pfeiffer who gave that speech verbatim in her 1995 film, “Dangerous Minds”. Finally, after years of role-playing in my head and waiting for the chance to say it, the opportunity to reenact the poignant scene where she imparts wisdom on her students and touches the audience with her street tough, yet valuable, teaching method presented itself.
But, unlike Michele Pfeiffer, I didn’t wear a leather jacket, teach karate or a valuable lesson to students bussed in from the ghetto. Instead, I realized that I watch too many movies. Luckily for me, most of the class missed my speech. For those that heard, I needn’t worry. They wouldn’t recognize a movie originally released on VHS or that starred an actress rarely seen in the tabloids. Hello?! That's so mid-90s.
Yesterday, an eighth grader blamed me for his lowered English grade because I reported his bad behavior and failure to complete the in-class assignment. Consequently, his teacher lowered his grade. Power to the substitute!
I responded to his accusation with, “You made a choice to misbehave, to not follow directions. Everyone has a choice, everyday you have a choice, and yesterday you made the wrong one.” I wagged my finger as an odd feeling nagged me. Déjà vu.
My spiel sounded good, too good. And, suddenly, I knew why. Subconsciously, I had channeled Michele Pfeiffer who gave that speech verbatim in her 1995 film, “Dangerous Minds”. Finally, after years of role-playing in my head and waiting for the chance to say it, the opportunity to reenact the poignant scene where she imparts wisdom on her students and touches the audience with her street tough, yet valuable, teaching method presented itself.
But, unlike Michele Pfeiffer, I didn’t wear a leather jacket, teach karate or a valuable lesson to students bussed in from the ghetto. Instead, I realized that I watch too many movies. Luckily for me, most of the class missed my speech. For those that heard, I needn’t worry. They wouldn’t recognize a movie originally released on VHS or that starred an actress rarely seen in the tabloids. Hello?! That's so mid-90s.
No comments:
Post a Comment