Blinded by Science

Once again, I have let an entire month slip by without updating this. There has been a host of things going on over the last four weeks, very little of which involve any social activity.

On Friday, January 28, I was subbing for an English teacher at the middle school in South Pasadena. I'd been hearing rumors among the faculty that I was going to be asked to fill in for one of the seventh grade science teachers, who was going on maternity leave for the remainder of the year.

As often happens, I was the last one to find out about this. Many of the other teachers were constantly asking me if I was ready to start working the following Monday, but I'd not yet been officially asked by the school administration.

Sure enough, as I was leaving for the day, I was called into the principal's office- something that had not happened since I got busted for something in the eighth grade. As I sat there with flashbacks to my previous visit with a principal 17 years ago, she inquired as to whether or not I'd be willing to cover the class for the remainder of the school year.

Naturally, I accepted...but was somewhat apprehensive. My academic exposure to the life sciences had been fairly limited since taking biology in the tenth grade. During my senior year of college, I'd taken a course on neurobiology, but was uncertain as to how my knowledge of axons, dendrites, and action potential would assist me in teaching seventh grade.

The past month has gone surprisingly well and I have learned a great deal about plants (our current unit.) I have been wondering if I studied this material when I was in seventh grade. All I really remember about middle school science is that I once got in trouble for punching the arm of the kid next to me in a spirited round of "pass it on."

In addition to having to struggle with the difficulties with taking over 5 classes in the middle of the school year, I have also been sick for nearly the entire month of February. When one's job requires one to speak for most of the day, it makes it difficult when one is coughing every two minutes. The illness has been made worse by the fact that, as a long-term substitute, I do not have any sick time. If I don't go in, then I don't get paid. Additionally, my pay will be raised after twenty consecutive days in the same class. If I am absent even once, the pay drops back down to the short-term rate. So, even though there were a couple days that I would have been better off in bed, I was not willing to forgo the money that I would lose. The opportunity cost was too great.

Well, I am going to make a concerted effort to update this site more often. I wouldn't be surprised if that doesn't happen...but we'll see.