Thread by @RadioFreeTom

So I have some work to do, but I have one more cool teacher story, since you've all been sharing such nice stories.
I had a spot in my schedule I had to fill in my senior. So I signed up for Geology, which was, in our school, "rocks for jocks" back then. /1

And the Geology teacher, a gruff phys ed teacher, took me aside and said:
"Yeah. Okay. You're probably too smart for this class. It would be an easy A. So I'm gonna make it less easy.
You're gonna help teach it."

And I thought, okay, cool, I can do a presentation.

/2

This was not at all hostile. The teacher was trying to think of a way to challenge me.
So he said: "You do this lecture in a few weeks."
I said: Yeah, can do, sure.
Then he says: "And the *class* is gonna grade you."

/3

And he was really blunt. He said: "Look, these are mostly kids who are in business or vocational tracks. You know a lot about science. So you need to do this and not show off, but teach them and get them to understand this."

Suddenly, I wasn't so confident.

/4

So, the day comes, and I am actually sweating this out. This course that was supposed to be a gut, that I was going to pass with my eyes closed, felt like a senior project.

So I do the lecture. The other kids are given little ballots.

/5

It was almost all As, with nice comments on them. The gruff old jock running the class nodded. Life went on.
Years later, I'm visiting the school, I thank him for it. He says: "You coulda passed that class with your eyes closed. I wasn't gonna let you do that."

/6

Not only was it the first thrill of finding out that maybe I could teach, but I took away a great lesson for future teaching: That being super-smart in the subject area isn't the same thing as being a good teacher.

One of the best classes I ever took.

/7x