Get your own Free Home PageMs. Wanda Anderson is a 26-year-old science teacher at Smith High School. It is Oct. 23, 12009. She does not believe in not accomplishing something with at least one child.
"OK, class, let’s get started on today’s lesson, " she said. "Let’s see if we can get off to a better start than we did yesterday."
"Wait a minute; nobody told you to say anything," Kia said.
"Kia, did you tell Ms. Anderson to say anything," Nicole said.
"No, so I do not know what made her feel that she could say a word."
"OK, girls, let’s settle down and get started on the lesson plan."
"I have a great activity planned for today. We are going observe how bacteria forms in the mouth. We are going to get a cotton swab, gather some mucus on it, put it under a microscope and see how much bacteria is in human saliva."
"This is some nasty stuff and why in the world would you want us to look at the bacteria in my spit," Kia said.
"You are a crazy teacher and I am not doing this, so you might as well try to think of something else," Nicole said as she looked at her latest copy of Essence.
"All right. If you do it, it’s an ‘A.’ If you do not, you will get an ‘F’ and that is that."
Ms. Anderson went to the closet to get a few supplies.
"Class, here are the supplies and you can get your microscopes out of the storage room," she said.
"I can not believe that she is making us do this dumb assignment," Kia said.
"Look at this," said Lorenzo. "Man, I see this mess in my spit and it is moving around. This is weird."
"Let me see," said Sylvia.
"What in the world is this crawling around in his spit, Mrs. Anderson?"
"That is called bacteria and it is in everyone’s, Sylvia. This is why I did this assignment. I thought you guys would like to know about the things that are inside of your body."
"This is actually a cool lab," Lorenzo said. "Why can’t every class be like this."
Mrs. Anderson could not believe it. Her plan for the day actually got the class involved. It was a success.
Later that day she attended the science department’s monthly meeting. When the subject of establishing an after-school tutorial program was raised, Wanda Anderson immediately raised her hand.
"I’ll do it," she said.
"You know the county has no funds to pay you," said Thomas Barker, the head of the department. "You will be doing this for free."
"I know," she answered.
Later, as Wanda Anderson was going to her car in the front parking lot of Ben L. Smith, she noticed that someone had taken a key and made a long scratch on the passenger side of her jet black 2002 Honda Concord. The hubcap on the driver’s front tire was missing too.
"What a reward," she mused, "for another day, another dollar. C’est la vie."
One tear came into Ms. Anderson’s left eye as she put the key into the ignition.
Get your own Free Home Page