Magic

It has been really interesting subbing this year. I started out the semester pulling my hair out when a 10 day gig turned into a 20 day gig turned into a 25 day gig turned into a 28 day gig. Because I thought I would only be there for two weeks I didn't lay down the ground rules that I would have otherwise. Suddenly I found myself struggling just to keep my head above the water. I did learn a lot though.
When that ended everything dried up. At most I was getting two calls a week, sometimes none. Sometimes the calls came so late that I turned them down because I had already gone back to bed or because it was so late that I couldn't get there in time. As more and more time went by with fewer and fewer calls it got harder and harder to get up for work. All to often it was to show up to substitute in classrooms where the kids saw me and tried to take advantage of me all day long. Talk about a bum deal!
Today though was one of those days that helps make it easier to get up in the morning. It wasn't an easy day. I still had to put up with my fair share of little punks and future thugs. The thing that made the difference was that I had a few classes where because of the way the class behaved or the way the schedule was laid out I got to do something that I love. I got to tell stories.
I have found that telling stories in the classroom can either work or flop spectacularly. I have had some classes where the kids sit there and mock me while I tell the story and after I tell the story. Sometimes though I get a classroom with the right group of kids in the right environment to make the moment magical.
I think that part of what made this story magical was that it was something that they could relate to their world. When I tell the kids that I used to chase bears for a living they laugh in my face. All they know about bears are that bears are gigantic killer tanks wrapped in a fur coat. There is nothing that can scare off a bear. In their minds bears would probably be America's greatest missile defense shield because they would stand their ground and swat the missile back to the country of origin. No one, and I mean no one, could possibly survive a job scaring off bears. They all thought that I was lying through my teeth and were laughing at me for being stupid enough to think I could pull that over their eyes. Oddly enough I instantly lost all of their respect for being foolish enough to think that I could get away with this. Little did they know that I was telling the truth, and that my dog really is bred to hunt and chase bears.
Today though was something they understood. It fit with their perspective of reality. Today I told them about my nephew's birthday.
This was something they understood. Dropping all of my weekend plans. Rushing to the store to get him a last minute present. My excitement when I found out that the cheerleaders were in the store to wrap presents. The moment when Caleb leaned to far back on the picnic table bench while eating his pizza and fell onto his back. The crying three year old who was suddenly better after he got a kiss from Mommy. His love for the swings. The excitement when he picked my present to open first. The let down when he dropped his new book to go play with the dog. The way I carefully video recorded him opening his present from his grandparents in the Philippines only to have him drop that and make a bee line for the dog again. His love for Bob the Builder and Thomas the Train. This spoke of family. This spoke of celebration. This spoke of things they understood, things they could understand, things that held their attention.
All to often it is so easy to get caught up with telling people about the big and exciting things that have happened in life. It doesn't matter if it is true or not. If it isn't compatible with their perception of reality it just isn't going to work. Their BS alarm goes off. Because they don't want to feel like a sucker they won't buy in and will try to prove that they are not gullible by loudly renouncing the veracity of the story. On the other hand some of the stories that hold people the best are the stories about everyday life, everyday joys, everyday struggles, everyday. Nothing fancy. Nothing unique. Ordinary.
This quite possibly is the true secret of storytelling.