Stewart experiences the classroom
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Exhausting and educational. That’s how I’d describe, in a nutshell, my three-day attempt at teaching advanced placement American history at Warren County High School last week.
My experience as an educator has its beginnings in my friendship with Chad McGee, the high school’s real AP American history teacher. Having had several long discussions and debates on the meaning and importance of events in our nation’s history, our mutual favorite subject, he asked me if I’d fill in for him for a few days while he attended a conference out of state.
It was important, he said, that his AP students, who will be taking a comprehensive test in May for college credit, not miss three valuable days of instruction time. So would you mind terribly, he asked. The perspective gained would be great for a reporter on the education beat, he noted, and the experience itself would make for a great article.
Reluctantly, I agreed. I was uncertain because, while I do have a pretty firm grasp of American history, it had been a while since I’d sat in any history class. I feared I might have forgotten some key details.
Mind you, this fear was compounded by the fact that never have I received any instruction whatsoever in the art of teaching. I had substitute taught in years past, but there was never any real teaching going on as it was pretty much just glorified baby-sitting. Needless to say, I was scared.
“Don’t worry about it,” said Chad. “You’ll do fine.” Right.
That was over a month ago. On Tuesday, the day before I was to begin teaching, Chad finally shows up to tell me (in less than 10 minutes) what I’ll be teaching, as well as to give me a couple of textbooks, a few instructions and a brief pep talk.
My mission: Cover the administrations of presidents Jefferson, Madison and Monroe and all important events therein. No detailed list of things to cover, No “make sure you stress this.” I thought he had way too much confidence in me, as he encouraged me at one point to hit what I thought was important.
Thanks a lot. I’m dead.
I headed home with the books and the all-too-brief instructions to do some hard-core studying, lest I thoroughly embarrass myself. Reading and making notes, it began to come back – Louisiana Purchase, Napoleonic Wars, neutrality policy, Federalist Party, Embargo Act, Tecumseh, War of 1812, Monroe Doctrine. Still, I had my work cut out for me. I stayed up until nearly 1 a.m. making notes for the following day’s lecture.
Wednesday morning found me nervous. Had I made a mistake? Was I going to make a fool of myself? These kids are smart, I thought, the cream of the crop. They know their stuff and can smell an impostor a mile away.
It was with these thoughts I slipped into room 263, waiting for the first of the three AP classes to enter.
After introducing myself I set about straight into my lecture. Still nervous, I stumbled a bit and lost my train of thought a few times, but somehow managed to make it through all I planned to discuss before the class ended. As the morning progressed, however, I became more comfortable and even began to have a semi-good time.
Nevertheless I was glad when Wednesday was over. I was tired, my throat was killing me and I was hungry. I went home to relax, but knowing I was going to have to do it all over again Thursday and Friday, I pulled out the books and began studying and making notes once again. Ah, the life of a teacher.
All in all though, my temporary teaching career was a positive experience. It was hard work, to be sure, much harder than I had imagined. It required more preparation and concentration than I had previously, in my ignorance, given teachers credit for.
I was fortunate in that the students I taught (or tried to teach) were the best of the best. They were smart and, for the most part, wanted to learn. They were also understanding. I was worried that at the slightest show of weakness or ignorance they would write me off as phony and not take me seriously.
Thankfully, they worked with me and did nothing of the sort. In fact, despite my lack of teaching ability, I think one or two of them might have actually learned something. And let me tell you, that’s a great feeling.
H.L. Mencken once quipped “Those who can, do; those who can’t teach.” With all due respect to the Sage of Baltimore, I couldn’t disagree more. During my few years covering education, reinforced by my mere three days in the classroom, I have come to see that teaching is doing.
The ability to explain information and impart knowledge is one of the noblest things one can do. And it’s one of the reasons I have the utmost respect for those who dedicate their lives to teaching.