H. Charles St. Clair - The Odyssey Of A Middle School Teacher

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Copyright 2009 by H. Charles St. Clair

ISBN 978-0-7414-5629-8 Paperback
ISBN 978-0-7414-7631-9 eBook

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To my grandchildren:
Callie Autumn Sky, Marissa Renee,
and Samuel Warner
Who all Love Books!
From Dr. Seuss to Mother Goose and
Harry Potter too!
Is your Mama a Llama?
Or Corduroy and the Tale of Despereaux.

xoxox

H. Charles Chuck St. Clair has five college degrees: A.S., B.S., M.S., M.A. & Ph.D. and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi. (Hes still not sure, however, what he wants to be when he grows up.)

He is currently retired and living in Virginia Beach with his wife and five cats. For those of you who are not feline-o-philes, fellow feline-o-philes know, humans dont own cats; they own you! He is an omnivorous reader with tastes ranging from the sciences to history and political science. He has subscriptions to two news magazines and the National Geographic. It is not unusual for him to be involved in three books simultaneously. He enjoys travel, music, plays, and movies. He rarely reads fiction but can recite the dialogue of the Godfather, Patton , Scent of a Woman , A Few Good Men , or Field of Dreams from memory.

He has just returned from teaching conversational English to Chinese college students at Shenyang Institute of Engineering in the Peoples Republic of China. Fortunately, he did not have to speak Chinese for after Moo Goo Gai Panhis Chinese was all down hill. (Fortunately for Chuck, his students spoke English; they just needed practice with native English speaking persons.)

An avid learner and an avid teacher, Chuck taught at the college/university level for just over 9 years and 8 years at the middle school level. And, when he was in the Air Forceback when airplanes had two wings (two on each side that is)he taught little league baseball. He recently found one of his Little Leaguersnow a mellowed-out 57 year old and a grandfatherthrough the Internet and plans to have a reunion with him in California when he travels west to the Pacific coast in 2010.

For his retirement victory lap, Chuck has set a goal of visiting Europe, going on a safari in Africa and visiting and all 50 of our states. (He has about 8 to go.) He his planning a two-week trip to Alaska and Denali National Park next year to visit two old college chums (Patti & Mike) whom he has not seen in over 40 years. They have exchanged Christmas cards every year since leaving their almamater, Eastern New Mexico University, in 1966. Mike is a state archeologist for the state of Alaska and Patti is a Librarian for the city of Fairbanks. They live in a small town just outside Fairbanks called (Hes not making this up): the North Pole. Chuck doesnt know if there are reindeer and a red sleigh parked in frontHell just have to wait and see.

My wife is always giving me unsolicited advice. (She thinks that is buried somewhere in her job description.) She did not like the title I selected for my book. I had given consideration to other titles such as The Educational Adventure of a Middle School Teacher, or Reflections on the Career of a Middle School Teacher, Travels With Charlie, (I think Steinbeck already had dibs on that one), and really like the word Confessions. Somehow everything seemed tepid and tame and did not capture the travail and pathos of my journey. And believe me, there was plenty travail and pathos to go around! I finally settled on the word odyssey. Jason had a journey with lots of problems looking for the Golden Fleece. And, in a manner of speaking I was looking for my own golden fleece: a license to teach.

As the chapters unfold you will be amused, edified and, maybe a time or two, you will be shocked, shake your head and mutter to yourself, Hes got to be making this up. Good. I believe in sales they call that the hook. Oh, and by the way, where the word stuff is used in the subtitle I wanted to use another word that begins with an s but my wife nixed that as well. She is probably right about that one. No need in offending anyone so soon in the journey.

To paraphrase the opening lines of a popular police T.V. show of the 1950s, Dragnet, (Im sorry I cant do the deep sonorous voice for you that goes with the introduction, but I can still hear it in my head), What you are about to see is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent any similarity between any people living or dead is purely coincidental. Well, yes, names have been changed, but not to protect the innocent but to keep from being sued! And, while lawsuits are probably pretty remote, I must confess, Im taking no chances! (Hey, some of the characters you are about to meet would not take kindly to being held up and examined in the light of day. And most emperors do not take kindly to having their clothes taken off in public! ) It goes without saying that the names of schools and geographical locations have also been changedpurposely disguised would be more like it.

All books are written with some audience in mind and this one is no different. I have written the book primarily for those who currently teach middle school; for those who have taught middle school and for those who arethinking about teaching middle school. Those also who are in any way connected with education, regardless the level, should also find the odyssey an interesting tome. In all honesty, you dont have to be a teacheror teacher wannabeto appreciate a story that is well told.

A couple of other caveats are in order. First, it goes without saying that my story is unique. If it wasnt I wouldnt be writing it! I did not go college to become a middle school teacher. As such, I was not exposed to a teaching (education) curriculum. Not having been exposed to a teacher education program can be interpreted both as a positive and a negative insofar as my middle school experience is concerned. For one thing, middle school is a mighty rough place to learn the craft of teaching, on-the-job. Dont expect kids to cut you any slack while you are busy learning.

Middle school and mercy are oxymoronic. On the other hand, I wouldnt have a story to tell, if I had gone through an education curriculum! True, anyone who has been a teacher has stories to tell, but the story you are about to read, that covers a career of nine years and five different schools, has elements that range from the bizarre, tragic, and funny to the absurd, outrageous, diabolical and, in a couple of instances, outright illegal or criminal.