Building on my last entry, I thought I would post a sample. Of course, there is my gym teacher from hell episode, so now I'll move on to academic subjects and third grade, when half the day was spent learning English and science with a strange teacher, and the remaining half was sanctuary, or social studies and math with a nice teacher.

Two creepy memories from that year, I remember the weirdo walked around with a pair of pliers in his back pocket, and every so often he would whip them out, and yank a couple of teeth out of some deer skulls he kept in the supply cubbyholes near his desk - and threaten us with the same if we didn't stop talking. He would walk right up in front of a student's desk, clicking those pliers together. I also remember he had a deer or cow heart floating in some solution - and we had to go up in pairs, reach into the container - I think it was one of those plastic jugs that paste came in - and pick it up, then drop it back in. Eeeewwww! Splash. In a macabre way, it is sort of funny. You know he did it just because it was disgusting, I mean what did we learn from that?

Other memories are of various teachers singling out a student for specific humiliation: poking fun at handwriting and other minor details of assignments, encouraging others in the class to laugh at the unfortunate. I was rarely, maybe never, the target, but I remember students who were.

Amazing I stuck with it - and even became an educator!