“Great” Moments In Teaching, Part Three

When I was 22, I was a substitute teacher in a number of districts, hoping to get noticed and hired for a full-time position. 

One of those districts, which had a “rough” reputation, wound up to have a faculty that welcomed substitute teachers, and students who were a lot better than that reputation.  

They also had a social studies teacher retiring on January 1st.

When I introduced myself to the Social Studies supervisor, he told me that he did not expect me to know how to teach; he only needed me to know the material, then proceeded to give me a quiz. 

There were twenty questions, but he stopped the quiz after I explained in detail:

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. 

I was hired.

At that time, I didn’t heed his belief that I couldn’t teach, yet ten years later when I returned to an American classroom, I understood what he meant. 

Before, I would literally offer notes and more notes on the board, hoping the students absorbed the material like a sponge; after all, that’s what my teachers had done. By then, however, I recognized that I should be teaching skills, and using the material as a vehicle to accomplish those.  

One of the most important skills I felt was public speaking. It was a very nerve-wracking experience for many kids, so I tried to make the circumstances for presentations by students as comfortable as possible…until, one day, I didn’t.

Custom ringtones were first developed in 1996 in Japan, but they weren’t the actual songs – instead, they were beeps and boops that recreated popular songs. Technology improved, however, and by 2005 it was a billion dollar industry. 

That year I bought a Motorola RAZR-V3, and downloaded my first ringtone: Insomnia, by Faithless, which had just received a remix and re-release.  

While sharing a few beers at the Plough and the Stars in Old City and planning my New Year’s Eve adventures in Brazil, my partner in crime, Painter, taught me how to download ringtones. He also shared with me how to record sounds and voices, then use them on the phone. 

His girlfriend at the time was a beautiful Filipino woman with a beautiful voice, and he dropped her message onto my phone. 

Delighted with my newfound discoveries, we went back to discussing how great Ipanema was going to be.

In January, I gave my classes case studies on Africa, and each day a group of four would present their project to the class for the entire forty minutes. Students were nervous, but I asked all students to put electronic devices away and respect the kids.

As one of the groups presented (in that favorite class of mine), a song erupted in the middle of the presentation: 

“I can’t get no sleep…”

I never put my phone on silent; the group’s focus was shot. The class turned to look at me as I fumbled apologies and reached into my phone to silence the class. I was beet red:  “I’m so sorry…” I muttered, while the students returned to their presentation.  

But I hadn’t pulled the phone out, and in my haste I’d pressed the wrong button. 

The call was silenced, but the person calling left a message. Fifteen seconds later, a sultry Filipino’s voice rang out over the group presentation:

“You have a message, master…”

And that was it for the presentation.

For the rest of the year, when I saw one of the students in the hallway and I said hello to her, she responded with a smirk:

“Hello, MASTER…”

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