If I had a dollar for every time a student asked me, “Why did I get a B?” I’d be as rich as Jeff Bezos! Shannon Reed’s Why Did I Get a B?: And Other Mysteries We’re Discussing in the Faculty Lounge delivers both laughs and tears. Reed is brave enough to write about her worst day as a teacher when she was so frustrated by her class, she abandoned them during a holiday presentation in the school auditorium and went back to her classroom to cry. But, things get better as Reed changes schools and her career goals. GRADE: B
Table of Contents
Author’s Note xiii
Preface: You Are Not Alone 1
Do You Have What It Takes to Be a Teacher?: A Quiz 7
If People Talked to Other Professionals the Way They Talk to Teachers 9
Part I Preschool, Elementary School, and Middle School
How I Came to Teach Preschool 13
Other Vehicular Styles of Parenting 25
All Your Children Are Broken 28
It’s Cooking Day at Preschool! 32
A Letter from Your Child’s Teacher, on Winter Holiday Gifts 37
Middle School Parent-Teacher Conference Night, in Internet Headlines 40
How I Imagined My Teachers Conversed about Me When I Was Thirteen 43
Memo to Parents and Legal Guardians Re: Our Updated Schedule for Spirit Days at Mapledale Middle School 47
Part II High School
How I Came to Teach High School 53
The Unspoken Rules of the Teachers’ Lounge 58
An Alphabet for the School at the End of Beach 112th 61
Student Essay Checklist 89
A Conclusive Ranking of the Students at Hogwarts by Order of How Much I Would Enjoy Teaching Them 91
Dear Parents: We’re Going with a Hamilton-Centered Curriculum This Year! 96
Somewhat More Free 99
Random School Motto Generator 121
The Other Class 122
A Field Guide to Spotting Bad Teachers 126
Paulie 128
It’s Your Twenty-Minute Lunch Period! 149
To Stan, with Love 155
Field Trip Rules 161
Teachers Reveal the Holiday Gifts They Actually Want 165
I’m Going to Make It through the Last Faculty Meeting of the Year by “Yes, and…”-ing It 167
Part III College
All Part of a Plan, Maybe; or, How I Came to Be a Professor 175
If Bruce Springsteen Wrote about Adjuncts 182
On Adjuncting 184
Classic College Movies Updated for the Adjunct Era 192
A Brief List of What Students Have Called Me 196
On Student Evaluations 198
My Ideal Student Evaluation Questionnaire 207
Worst, Weirdest, and Best 209
A Short Essay by a Student Who Googled the Professor Instead of Reading Jane Eyre 213
Moral Quandaries for Professors 215
I See You. 218
An Incomplete List of Sources I Have Seen Plagiarized 220
I Know You’re Asleep Right Now, but Please Get Back to Me ASAP 222
Sports Analogies for Academics 233
“Why Did I Get a B?”: An Answer in Four Fables 236
Taught 240
Everyone Who Attends Must Converse 245
Part IV A Few Last Tidbits for the Cool Kids Who Like to Hang Out in My Room after School Is Out
My Last Pieces of Good Advice for New Teachers and Professors 257
How I Imagine Retirement from Teaching Will Be at Seventy-Two 259
Acknowledgments 263
Credits 272