The Student

[RoryGilmore]

The Student

Jo Polniazeck, twenty year old college junior sat in her nine o’clock Introduction to Education class on the first day if her fifth semester in college. She had completed all of the general education courses for the two majors she was interested in and it was now time to stop stalling and pick one. If she chose Education she had to quickly sign up to start taking the required standardized tests in order to get to the next step in the major, then two semesters of classes and one semester of student teaching. However, if she went the other way of Social Work, she had two semesters of classes and one semester of what was called field practicum where she went into the community and held a internship for 420 hours.

“Part of this course,” announced the professor, “does involve going into a school and doing twenty hours of observations in a classroom of your chthat oice.”

At this, the majority of the class groaned but it excited Jo. She was one of two juniors in a class full of what she assumed to be freshman. She, unlike them, was far enough along in her education to realize that these observation hours would be pivotal in determining whether or not Education was right for her. She tuned the professor out and reached into her bag for her calendar. She knew that it would be smart to get the observations done early in the semester, especially since her work schedule at Edna’s Edibles became busier towards Thanksgiving and Christmas. She decided to contact the local elementary school in Peekskill on her lunch break at 11 to begin setting up the hours. She then proceeded to jot down all of the assignment due dates for the course in her calendar.

Her ten o’clock class on Diversity began differently, the syllabus was passed out and instead of the professor spending the next fifty minutes of class time reading it to the students she began by writing three questions on the black board. The first: “What is Social Work?” the second: “What is Diversity?” the third: “Why is knowledge of diversity important for the field of Social Work?” Jo was immediately intrigued. She decided against pulling out her calendar and writing all of the semester’s assignments in and instead she sat up a little straighter interested to see if this was going to be an intelligent discussion or turn into a fight over race.

The first person to raise their hand was an overweight black male that was sitting in the front row.

“Yes? What is your name?” asked the professor.

“Will,” responded the student. “I’m not entirely sure what social work is besides helping people, I’m here to learn more of that definition. Diversity is people different than ourselves. And the importance of knowing about diversity is due to the diverse population social workers serve.”

“Excellent answers, Will. We will be exploring all three of these questions in-depth throughout the course of this semester and throughout the remainder of your lives whether you chose to pursue a career in Social Work or not. And we’ll see if, by December, your answers change. So let’s begin.” I would like for you all to take out a sheet of paper, and write out your answers to these three questions. Your responses will not be graded. I would just like to see where you all are starting and we will repeat this exercise at the end of the semester.

The room filled with groans and mutterings as the class of one hundred and twenty students reached for notebook and pencils. Jo agreed with the masses that this was probably a waste of time but her stomach and begun to growl and she was willing to do anything to make the time go quicker so 10:50 would come faster.

As she was writing she kept glancing around her, seeing how much other people were writing. She didn’t want to be the one that wrote too much yet she didn’t want to seem like a slacker for writing too little. Ten minutes after the exercise began the girl sitting next to her turned to her.

“Think this is enough?” The girl asked turning her paper back and forth to show she had written about half of a page for each question in big curvy handwriting.

“Seems to be responded Jo who showed her three quarters of a page filled with the answers to the three questions. Jo’s handwriting, however, was smaller and seemingly neater than the other girls.

“I’m Andie,” The girl stated.

“Jo”

“Are you a Social Work major too?” Andie asked and Jo realized she had a very perky upbeat personality and wasn’t quite sure if this is who she wanted to talk to.

“No, undeclared.” Jo responded.

“What year are you? I’m a junior.” Andie retorted.

“Same.” Jo said beginning to dislike this girl rather quickly.

“Well you should probably decide soon. It takes four semesters to get through any major.” Andie responded in a matter-of-fact tone.

“So, I’ve heard.” Jo responded and then grabbed her calendar and started putting assignments for this course in it.

The last twenty minute seemed to drag as Jo flipped through the unorganized course syllabus searching for assignments. Finally the clocked hit 10:50 and she jumped up from her seat and headed out before Andie had the chance to speak again.

Normally she stayed on campus all day but today she wanted to call the elementary school so she set off towards the parking lot hoped on her motorcycle and headed home.

She arrived home and went straight to the phone in the living room next to the staircase that led upstairs to the bedrooms. She lived in a house connected to Edna’s Edibles with Edna Garrett, Blair Warner, Natalie Green, and Tootie Ramsey. The four girls had been roommates for four years and Mrs. Garrett was their housemother turned boss and owner of Edna’s Edibles.

Jo searched the desk next to the phone for a phone book but could not find one and went into the kitchen that had a door connected to the shop and then entered the shop. Mrs. Garrett was standing behind the counter finishing up with an older lady wanting some quiche. After the lady left, Jo made her presence known.

“Hey Mrs. G., do you know where the phone book is? I need to call the elementary school and schedule twenty hours of observations for my Intro to Education class."
“All ready! It’s the first day of classes!” exclaimed Mrs. Garrett who grabbed the telephone book next to the store’s phone.

“When else will I have time to do it?” Jo responded taking the book from Mrs. Garrett and going back to the house phone, looked the number up, dialed and waited as it rang.

“Peakskill Elementary, this is Susan speaking how may I help you? The receptionist asked.

“Hi, my name is Jo Polniazeck and I am a student at Langley College. I need to speak with someone about scheduling observation hours for my Education course.”

“Let me transfer you to the guidance counselor.” Responded Susan and she hung up the phone and clicked the buttons to transfer the phone and Jo heard ringing again before another woman answered.

“Hello this is Rebecca.” the woman said.

“Hi, my name is Jo Polniazeck, I am a student at Langley College and I need to schedule observation hours for my education class.”

“Okay, Jo how many hours do you need?”Rebecca asked while digging through a file cabinet.

“Twenty.” responded Jo.

“Alright, it looks like Mr. Mathis is up next for a student. He teaches 3rd grade science. Is that okay?” Rebecca asked.”

“Yes fine.” Jo responded.

“Excellent. Would you be free to come in one day after school and work out a schedule with me and him for the twenty hours?” Rebecca asked.

“What time do you dismiss?” Jo asked.

“Three o’clock” Rebecca responded.

“I am done with classes at 1. I could come in today.” Jo said.

“Perfect. I will inform him and we will see you then.” Rebecca said and they hung up.

Jo stood up and walked to the kitchen and began making herself a sandwich as lunch. She then took her sandwich into the shop and sat at one of the tables and kept Mrs. Garrett company until it was time to go back to campus.

[fol_fan1989]

This is good so far. I'm interested to see where you're going to go with this storyline. Hope to see more soon!

[RoryGilmore]

Originally Posted by fol_fan1989

This is good so far. I'm interested to see where you're going to go with this storyline. Hope to see more soon!

Planning a big post after New Years