Last week during a week assignment at a private school, a Social Studies teacher contacted me on my I-Phone where I was performing my duties as a substitute. She sent me a message to relate to a student. She was several book reports behind and if she didn't make them up by the end of the week, including a Saturday, ice day make up, she would be calling her parents. The teen student shared that she would definitely get a spanking with her dad's belt, if she was found out. Yes, it may be a new era, but military families are a different breed.
The student asked me for help picking out books in the library to make up her book reports, there were 8! While I did help her with suggestions for outlines to write each of the reports, I made her read the book and do the two page reports. She turned one in a day and two on Saturday. As she turned in her last two book reports, she smiled for the first time that week. she pointed to my belt and told me it was wide like her dad's and every time she thought about procrastinating, she thought of what the belt felt like pants down. I smiled and marked her BR Line, complete for the semester. I went into teacher mode and told her, I was just glad I could inspire her to complete her assignments. She told me the belt I was wearing inspired her too. The bell rang, she thanked me and left for her next class.
What the teen didn't know was that I helped her to avoid a spanking I got with a paddle by my teacher for procrastination and waiting till the end to finish my math notebook. It was the inspiration for my serial, The Paddling Algebra Teacher. The clothing stayed up, but that wooden paddle blistered my butt good. Things in the 9th Grade back nearly 50 years ago. You can find it on my author page, Cherry Red or in a search for authors. |