The sound of noisy children filled
the florescent-lighted classroom, and Mr. Kindsey waited impatiently for the
students to settle down. “Guys! The quote.” He said, referring to the daily
warm up. It had been second semester for a month now, and Mr. Kindsey was
already getting tired of the “senioritis” pandemic.
“Students,
I have passed out a rubric for the project this six weeks. You all will journal
about what you love most about English.” In his head, Mr. Kindsey believes he
has derived a cleaver plan to see who truly values their education.
“OK, class, you can start your discussion.”
“Getting a
5 on the AP exam, of course!” Garrison, as usually the first to speck, yelled
out.
“Oh well, I
think the best part of English is making a 9 on an essay.” Bina said.
“I believe
the true beauty of English is the words.” Holleen exclaimed. Immediately all
the heads in the class turned to stare at Holleen. She continued, “The way
single words can be placed together to create something with meaning is incredible.
Words make sentences, that make stories, that make us cry, laugh, and smile!”
Still no one responded positively, just blank stares.
“Words…
Really, words?” Mr. Kindsey questioned in disgust. “Out of all the important things
in English, like grades, extra credit, and ‘A’ honor roll, you choose words…?” Mr.
Kindsey continued on, distressed because he thought Holleen would understand
the DISD values of education. “Holleen, read the board under ‘product’ for
today’s agenda.”
“100% of
students will share a superficial and quantifiable love they have for English.”
Holleen recited.
Mr. Kindsey
responded. “Because of your failure to follow DISD policy I’m going to have
expel you from the school. Mrs. Treelove will escort you out.” Holleen slowly
packed up her belonging as the Mr. Kindsey, Garrison, and Bina all conversed
over film festivals, Star Wars, and coffee.
Once outside the classroom, Holleen
begged Mrs. Treelove to not expel her. Mrs. Treelove didn’t expel her, and she
asked Holleen what she could do for her. Holleen asked, “Can I be placed in
freshman English?” Mrs. Treelove agreed. Then Holleen started attending Mr.
Javison’s freshmen class. In order to keep her identity a secret, Holleen used
a simpler, freshmen-level vocabulary.
After weeks
in Mr. Javison’s class, Holleen accidentally forget to use unsophisticated
words in an essay. Mr. Javison immediately accused her of cheating, and threw
his Viking hat at her. To prove her
innocence, she frantically wrote down challenging words like “circumlocution,”
“charlatan,” and “nefarious” with prefect definitions. Mr. Javison, so
impressed with Holleen’s neat handwriting, instantaneously declared her his
star student.
Later on in
the year, Mr. Javison and Holleen hosted a book club for all the English
teachers in the district. At the beginning of the event, Holleen welcomed all
the teachers as they walked in, and Mr. Kindsey didn’t recognize Holleen. Once
it was time to pass out the copies of King Lear, Holleen made sure to give Mr.
Kindsey a specially prepared edition.
“Please turn to act 1, scene 1, line 79 – 80.”
Holleen instructed the book club, and Mr. Javison began reciting the excerpt
Shakespeare. Mr. Kindsey opened his copy only to notice all the words missing
from the book leaving only blank pages.
“Why are
there no words in my book? We can’t study English with out words!” Mr. Kindsey
exclaimed. Soon he noticed Holleen. It finally dawned on him just how important
words are to English. “Holleen, you are wise. Please forgive me!” Mr. Kindsey
begged. Holleen laughed at Mr. Kindsey then walked off with Mr. Javison,
reciting the poems of William Blake.
The next
day in freshmen English Mr. Javison started by asking the class. “What is
everyone’s favorite thing about English?”
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