Gone Fishing for the Summer

I be done teaching for a bit. This marks the conclusion of three solid years of teachifying. I think three years is a good point at which to look back and analyze. Thusly I here construct a list of what I done learned as a social science teacher at the Payson Senior High School.



1) I still don’t really have a clue.



2) Teenagers, for all their good qualities, are relatively tactless.



Example:
Student: Mr. Wright, if you ever want to get a girl you’ve got to change your wardrobe. Those clothes are pathetic (editor’s note: This comment may well be true, but the presentation could use a little revising).



3) My students, most of them, are surprisingly perceptive. They generally catch on pretty quick when I’m just winging it (except those choice few who can’t even remember what subject I teach. You tell me Ry-masta, is it World Civ or U.S. Studies).



4) However, the limit of their knowledge is occasionally quite humorous.



Example:
Me (to one of my students): Come on, I know you know which president was shot in 1963. Student: No, I really don’t know.
Me: (after a sigh): It was John F. Kennedy.
Student: See I didn’t know. I thought it was JFK or something like that.
Me: John F. Kennedy is JFK. They’re the same person.
Student: Really? I though JFK was that black guy.



(Scout’s honor this is a true story)



5) An incredibly effective way to manipulate the masses is through food. It’s unbelievable really.



6) I apologize most profusely to all my female friends who associated with me when I went to high school (all two or three of you) with whom I used to argue about the fact that teenage boys were more mature than teenage girls. It is an absolutely indefensible position in retrospect.


7) My biggest challenge: Trying to decide what to do with students’ cellular devices. If you have any ideas, let me know. I’m pretty sure that their over dependence on cell phones is having a much more negative impact than they can possibly imagine.


8) My principal (despite what other teachers may say, the bunch of malcontents) is an amazing man. Currently he ranks in my top five male/fatherly influences.


That list is:
My Dad
My Mission Presidents (I count them as one, just so I can have another spot on my list)
Dr. Frandsen
Principal Peery
Coach Peterson


And that’s all


P.S. My new favorite song: Temporary Home by Carrie Underwood (soon to be Carrie U. Wright since she’s going to marry me).

And I ask you, what's wrong with that outfit?