Good Monday Morning! (The classroom.)

1. Question – Joey Santos calls out, “Yo, teach….”

“You are not to call out. You are to raise your hand.”

“Yeah, yeah,” said Joey, “but….”

They have a way of saying yeah yeah that tells you they’re saying, “We’re trying to be patient, man, giving you a break because you’re just a new teacher.”

Joey raises his hand, “Yo, teacher man…”

“Call me Mr. McCourt.”

“Yeah, OK. So, you Scotch or something?”

2. Thought – Joey is the mouth. There’s one in every class along with the complainer, the clown, the goody-goody, the beauty queen, the volunteer for everything, the sissy, the lover, the critic, the jerk, the jock, the intellectual, the momma’s boy,  the religious fanatic who sees sin everywhere, the brooding one who sits in the back staring at the desk, the mystic, the happy one, the saint who finds good in all creatures. It’s the job of the mouth to ask questions, anything to keep the teacher from the boring lesson. I may be a new teacher but I’m on to Joey’s delaying game. It’s universal. I played the same game in Ireland. I was the mouth in my class in Leamy’s National School. The master would write an algebra question or an Irish conjugation on the board and the boys would hiss. Ask him a question, McCourt. Get him away from the bloody lesson. Go on, go on. (The Teacher Man by Frank McCourt)

“Doggedness, not as glamorous as ambition or talent or intellect or charm, but still the one thing that got me through the days and nights.” (Frank McCourt)