Ah Gardena, my old foe

Come back in time with me to 1999.

No pics.

Casey was 9 months old and I had recently decided to start substitute teaching in Los Angeles.  Steve was teaching and out of sheer boredom I decided to sub a few days a week for extra cash.  $160 a day to be exact.

I attended a two-day substitute teacher training where I met a lot of out-of-work actors whose main goal was to be effective enough in the classroom to be requested as a long-term sub so they could earn $195/day.

I failed the two-day institute because the actors were all much better at the practice scenarios.  In fact at one point, one of the actors turned to me and said "You know what?  Don't actually do that with kids in a classroom" while I was acting out what I would do if a pager went off during class. Fortunately, all they needed at that time was a warm body so they let me sub anyway.  My first day that I called the sub system I excitedly put on my shiny shoes, got my "cool substitute teacher" kit together and showed up to change the world.

At Gardena High School.

In a drama class.

In which the teacher had already used her entire sick leave and was now taking unpaid leave because she had some kind of nervous breakdown during class and had stopped leaving lesson plans.

The classes were comprised of almost entirely females and I was woefully unprepared to handle cultural differences of city kids as compared with my own small--town mountain upbringing.  Some of the moments that I haven't completely blocked out:

• I asked a student to go to the office to take care of what I was certain was a dress code violation  but she refused.  What do you do when you ask someone to do something and they ignore you?
• I asked the class to open the book and start reading a play--let's act it out!  So a few participated while the rest of the students milled about, ignoring my instructions
• A girl got up and left class and when I followed her she told me she was going to call her grandmother. I suggested she go to the office but she ignored me.

Are you getting the picture here?  So after a terrible, embarrassing, and humbling day, I decided never to return to Gardena High School.  I appreciated the opportunity to practice my teaching skills with kids who would never see my face again and ran with my tail tucked between my legs. 

I got much better at managing groups of kids after practicing at several high schools and middle schools but never got the courage to return to Gardena. 

Looks like fear is still striking hearts at Gardena after 10 years:

Officials' reassurances fail to calm Gardena High School parents