Tales from the Classroom

Enjoy this repost from April 12, 2014.  I swear, this is a true story.  Enjoy!

Like every 6th grader in our county, my daughter went to Outdoor School in the fall.  Outdoor School is run at our county nature center.  The kids spend a week in residence there, learning about nature, our environment, the ecosystem, and what is so unique about the area in which we live.

The kids both love and hate outdoor school.  I've never been sure how the teachers feel about it.  On the one hand, they don't have to plan lessons for an entire week, and someone else is in charge.  On the other hand, they are sleeping in the teacher's quarters for the entire week, on uncomfortable mattresses, sharing bunk rooms with the teachers that they work with.  (Separated my men and women, of course.)

There was one particular teacher in our middle school who will forever be stuck in my mind.  Do you remember Mrs. Frizzle of the Magic School Bus books?  This teacher looked like a 50 something Mrs. Frizzle.  Stout figure, Lucy Ricardo's red hair, that frizzed out all over her head.  She always wore crazy outfits, and her shoes... OMG, her shoes.... Always stilettos, and never the same shoe twice.  They were something to see.  For convenience's sake, I'm just going to call her Ms. Frizz from here on out.

My daughter went to Outdoor School in the fall.  It was perfect weather.  Jeans and a sweatshirt.  The kids didn't have to worry about snow, and they didn't have to worry about frostbite.  They could take the nature hikes and get wet without worry.

So, Ms. Frizz was chaperoning a group as they began a hike down a nature path.  Ms. Frizz was wearing her stilettos, jeans, and was mincing her way down the path, behind the PE teacher.  A large tree was across the path, and the PE teacher called out a warning to the kids that the tree was down, and he stopped to make sure the kids stepped over it without a problem.

Ms. Frizz was in a world of her own.  She just kept walking, paying no attention to the world around her until *smack* she walked straight into the fallen tree and did a face plant, sprawled awkwardly over the tree trunk.

Laying face down in the dirt, the kids all rushed over to her and began asking, Ms. Frizz!  Are you okay?  Are you dead?

"Leave me here.  Go on without me.  Enjoy your day."  She said, still laying face down in the dirt.

Shaking his head and muttering things not quite fit to print, the PE teacher picked her up and got her on her feet. 

"Are you good to go?"  he asked.

"No" she said, "The ground is all muddy.  I can't go on. My heels keep sinking in the mud.  I'll just stay here until the ground dries."

My daughter said that at this point, the PE teacher's mouth hardened into a straight line.  He looked at the kids, and he looked back at the teacher.  At this point, they were over a mile from the camp if they went forward, and a mile away if they went back.  He is a good man, though.  He looked at the kids, and then, he scooped the Ms. Frizz up and carried her all the way back to the camp.

You know, Ms. Frizz is retired now.  At her retirement party, this story was mentioned over and over again.  She is never going to live this story down.

I am most impressed with the PE teacher.  He managed to carry a teacher - an adult, no less- over a mile back to the cabins without complaining.  The kids all learned a very important lesson that day - about taking care of each other - about being gallant, and caring for other people - about doing the right thing, without complaining that it's uncomfortable. 

Ms. Frizz also taught them something, too - sometimes you do a face plant in the middle of a situation, and you need other people to help pull you up and get you on your feet again.

On the days when the kids are having a rough day, and they see that Ms. Frizz is subbing in the high school, they all smile and remember the day she was laying in the dirt, muttering "Just leave me here, go on without me,"  they all smile thinking about that bright autumn day.

(Seriously, who wears stilletos on a nature hike through the woods?)

Love you Ms. Frizz!  You are an awesome teacher!