1st Day at CVS

I was hired at CVS on a Friday morning, and school began the following Tuesday after Labor Day. I was thrilled and terrified, I had no idea what I would be teaching. I was hired into the Achievement Academy, a separate ward of the school, an Orwellian term for the school where students who fail elementary school go in order to accelerate their learning to be on track by their junior year. It is tightly scripted and is the concept of John Hopkins University.

That weekend, instead of getting prepared, I went on my best friend's bachelor party in Put In Bay, outside of Toledo Ohio. It rain on the way down there, and as I was about to pass a pharmacy my buddy Jules screamed "we gotta get chaser!" I hit the curb and broke the control rod, bending the wheel into the wheel well. I was able to get the spare on it and drive ten miles to the ferry, the car shaking a pulling the whole time. I realized that I was stuck in Ohio, and decided to get very drunk, and hook up with middle aged women from Texas A&M. Seemed like a good idea at the time.

My parents had to pick me up, so I sat in my car waiting for them all day at a mechanics. The sun was hot, all I did was try to read books on teaching or Chicago, and keep positive songs in my head. Enjoyed a few quiet moments in the sun. Thought to myself, get through this year. you are going to learn so much, you are going to be tougher than you ever thought, better, everything is going to be better because you are going to be tough and wise enough to make it better.

I did not have a bed in Chicago until October, so I lay on the floor all night unable to sleep. Tied my tie at 4:45 the next morning, drank coffee and hit the road. Chicago is great at sunrise, the streets are empty except for the night worker army making deliveries and pumping things. Drove down Lake Shore drive watching the sunrise over the gentle waves and sailboats. The skyline and millennium park, switching between NPR and the soundtrack to The Last Kiss. So excited to start the professional life.

I got to the school almost two hours before I saw another teacher. Got there before everyone except the kitchen staff who showed me in. Walked around the gigantic high school that could hold over 5,000 students, and now held around 2,300; still more people than my home town.

The principal showed up around 7:15, by which time I was seriously freaking out. Got my room, which was an abandoned computer lab. By abandoned I mean it was an empty room without furniture or chalkboard. But I had a piece of chalk in my hand. I was told that in around 40 minutes I would be teaching freshman seminar, which I basically a class on how to be a functional human being. I was given a student record book and was enchanted immediately by their names.

I stood in the room by myself, thinking about what I was going to say. It was ten minutes before the classes were supposed to being, and the entire school was empty. Only half the teachers were there, and there was not a single student in sight.

The bell rung and I was standing in an empty room in an empty school. Finally I could not stand it anymore and took a walk down the hall, probably my first true act of professional defiance.

Great masses of students were outside. The metal detectors had not been set up on time, and there was already several running skirmishes where students were hazing the freshman, beating the boys and outright sexually assulting the girls. The principal was standing by the door yelling at everybody.

And that was when the shooting happened.
All hell broke lose.
The student was alright, and later on it turned out that he did not even go to our school. People were running everywhere, some terrified, others skipping and howling with delight and amusement.

Everyone was being yelled at and I was yelled at to go back to the classroom, which I did, although I passed by it once. Students were starting to come in and pick up their schedules. The freshman were shaking with fright. The schedules did not tell them what part of the building their classes were in, and in fact did not even have room numbers on them. The result was hundreds of kids slowly walking through the halls or coming to a stop for over an hour. I had my first student around 9am. She was the only student that showed up for that period.

For my division I had four guys. Had a great start up conversation with them. They did everything I asked them to do, which was a big boost for my nervous ass.

I might have had two students after that. There was a brief after-school meeting about the shooting. I got to meet the other teachers in my department, all African American women and all very friendly to me. And then punched out. Actually enjoyed the traffic jam on the way home because I needed time to think.

I live with two other history teachers who I met during a residency internship program. We all went to a nearby neighborhood bar to congratulate ourselves and toast a new year.

I had the most interesting story.