#122: Kristy in Charge
Stoneybrook Middle School, always being on the cutting edge, is doing a new program called TOT: Teachers of Tomorrow. Student volunteers will get few sessions of teacher training and then teach three classes in an assigned subject. Nerdy little me who always liked to play school (and yes, I’m a teacher now) would have EATEN THIS UP. And most members of the BSC do, too; only Abby, Jessi, and Claudia (duh) opt out.
Stacey gets assigned to teach a math class, Mary Anne gets social studies, Kristy gets phys ed, and Mallory is horrified to discover that she has to teach an eighth-grade class as a sixth-grader. At least it’s English, though! Kristy is mortified when she finds out that she’ll be sharing duties with Cary Retlin, as their sexual tension is still in that we-pretend-to-hate-each-other stage. Kristy is taking over for a stern lady teacher who she doesn’t like, and vows her gym class will be ~fun~ and everyone will suddenly love it; however, Cary derails the class and Kristy ends up having to yell and shout at the kids after all. Turns out teaching isn’t so easy after all, huh, Kristin Amanda?
Kristy and Cary cannot cooperate to run the class. Things escalate until a brawl breaks out during a Kristy’s-team-versus-Cary’s-team soccer game. One kid loses a tooth, another gets a black eye, and one girl is sent to the hospital with a broken arm. Whoops! Kristy and Cary get reamed out by the assistant principal Mr. Kingbridge, who threatens to cancel the TOT program next year if they can’t get their shit together.
Mallory’s teaching experience is not going so well, either. As a sixth-grader trying to each a class of eighth-grade ding dongs, she gets called Spaz Girl because she’s nervous and some of the jerks in the class are super rude, leading the actual teacher to assign them all a 10-page paper on Mallory’s subject, Emily Dickinson. Serves them right.
“The problem should be called ROT instead of TOT.” - Mallory
Kristy and Cary are finally able to cooperate and redeem themselves by splitting up duties and creating a collaborative activity called a Passathon. Mallory steels herself to make it through the last of her three teaching days. And the BSC acknowledges that teaching is not an easy job and that everyone should be nicer to their teachers. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. Now, I’m off to lesson plan…
