Guest lecturing

Last Thursday, Robert and I went to guest lecture at the high school where he had had his internship. We were there to introduce Shakespeare to high school seniors.

When we arrived at the high school, we walked into the office and got our visitor passes. One of the office managers was completely unaware of the change Robert has made, so Robert very diplomatically explained that he was no longer an intern for the high school. He didn't go into details because he knows that there is a reason why everyone has kept the decision under wraps--educators are very big on reputation and appearances, so he respected that. We walked down the hall to his senior classroom, where I proceeded to get butterflies in my stomach. I was starting to feel so nervous and excited and just wanted to get it over with. We made it to his old classroom a few minutes before the bell rang (haha--the bell! It'd been so long since I'd been in a high school!), which scared me when it did ring. I was able to talk to his former lead teacher for a little while about pedagogical interests and techniques as well as the doctoral program.

The students eventually started to file in, and my nerves flitted away--I donned my teaching persona, which is confident and calm. Robert passed out the handout that I created (simply a timeline of important dates in Shakespeare's life), and then I proceeded to sort of talk them through it. I'm not interested in reading handouts to people for a living, so instead I used the handout as a reminder of what year I was discussing, and then elaborated on that particular date. Robert had to interrupt me because he had forgotten to tell me that the lunch bell would ring a few minutes into our lecture. I was pretty bewildered by a lunch bell that rings only fifteen minutes into class, but I didn't protest. He and I hung out in the classroom while his lead teacher and students ran out the door to get Thursday chicken...apparently the cafeteria specialty. I was reminded of NGCSU's Sunday chicken and the mad dash required to procure a tasty piece.

The students returned, and where they had been hungry and lethargic for the first part of the lecture, they were now full and lethargic for the last half. There were quite a few who started to fall asleep on me, so I asked them questions to get them to wake up (as I do in my own college classroom). Once we had finished with the handout, Robert elaborated a little on the play they were reading ("The Scottish Play"...I don't know who might be reading this post within the walls of a theatre ;)). They then became very interested in our engagement and wedding plans. Before we made it to the high school, Robert and I had both hoped that they wouldn't have made that connection because we knew it would distract them and detract from my ethos. But, alas, his lead teacher, when introducing me, said, "And this is Robert's fiancée, Ms. W who is here to talk to us about Shakespeare." *sigh*

Lecturing was fine, although I did thank my lucky stars that I did not go down the secondary education route after all. I had considered it for a time when I was an undergrad, but I ultimately chose English Literature for my degree and then to move on to my MA and PhD. The lead teacher was a nice enough woman, but I wasn't confident in her ability to have control over her classroom. There is an actual limit to what a secondary education teacher can do to control her classroom anyway, and I wasn't sure she was exhausting those limitations. When I lose control over my classroom in college, I have a great deal more freedom, such as kicking students out of the class and then giving them an unexcused absence for the day. Can't do that in high school because then Mom and Dad will be riding Teacher's ass all semester long. As we were walking out, I took Robert's hand and said, "You know...I trusted you before about your decision, but now I think I understand it a lot better. You don't belong there and you would have only been miserable for three more months." We're still awaiting a decision to be made by the admissions committee, although Robert's complete application has been submitted.