Monday. Auto shop.
(Yes, one of the schools I work at still has an auto shop class. It's been years since I had a chance to cover it, but last school year I had a chance to interact with them when my car door's lock broke and they installed a new one.)
It actually was a pretty chill day. Because sub, the kiddos were assigned bookwork. (Auto shop 1 was studying the cooling system while auto shop 2 was dealing with wiring schematics and circuit testing.)
Shop classes tend to have bookwork with a sub because a sub isn't trained on all the safety concerns, so it's just safer and easier to not have them work with equipment. Which is fine with me. (Although, you should have seen their book. It's huge. I don't know how they lifted that monster, it was so big.)
The auto shop 2 class had a couple familiar faces. Remember Adriel from the math class I covered in the spring? He was there.
And there was a girl (well, there was more than one in the class...). And she just seemed familiar. I did a quick calculation, and yup, it had to be her. See, I recalled this now senior from when she was in seventh grade. It seems London is all grown up. Time flies... (Click on the links for the posts where I talked about her at the time.)
But not only did I know many of the students. The class also has an instructional assistant that's been with the class for years. She also works with the district's occupational program. She's also made the blog before, as Ms. E is the IA who Harmony threatened to trip a couple years back. Whether my warning helped I can't say, but I can say that Harmony never managed to make good on that threat. And since she's left the district, I think Ms. E is safe.
(Ms. E brought up that incident. We talked about Harmony. I asked if she graduated. She ended up on independent study towards the end, so maybe? Probably? Some day I might ask, but I likely won't think of her next time I'm around the people who would know.)
This is what happens sometimes. I run into students (and staff) who I have history with. It's nice to see the kiddos grow up.
You mentioning the kiddos growing up reminded me of the daughter of a co-worker. I remember her in kindergarten. Daughter is grown up now and is a teacher. It's really nice when they grow up into mature, responsible adults. Of course, that's not always the case, which has its own sadness.
ReplyDeleteTime passes, doesn't it?
DeleteYeah, they do grow up eventually
ReplyDeleteThey do.
DeleteIt's cold here, too. Auto shop sounds kind of cool. I wish I had more knowledge about car repairs, and that I had the opportunity to learn about that in school. Have a Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteYeah, taking auto shop would have been cool. I agree.
DeleteThat's cool. Be well!
ReplyDeleteThanks.
DeleteGlad this one grew up well. I think the shop classes are the best. They give kids who aren't keen on academics to learn trades and even those who do take a liking to Shakespeare can learn so much that's practical. Great story.
ReplyDeleteYeah, shop classes are great.
DeleteThis would be way fun to do. My wifes car has been having issues and I've enjoyed watching Youtube to get more handy. Start with an oil change and work your way up! Thanks for sharing. Have a great day!
ReplyDeleteThanks.
DeleteThat is great, I didn't know schools did this still.
ReplyDelete