Thoughts before reading:
This has to be one of the worst covers... those outfits, their facial expressions, the floating basketballs... I'm not sure which is worse.
The basics:
SMS is participating in a new program called TOT: Teachers of Tomorrow, where students can volunteer to teach classes for three days. (Naturally, Kristy's first thought is to ask if she can be principal.) Anyone who takes a training course can sign up to do this. The BSC girls discuss it, and Kristy, Mallory, Mary Anne, and Stacey decide to take part. Abby, Jessi, and Claudia don't want to. (So much for Mary Anne being so shy...)
Kristy's assigned to teach 7th grade gym, Stacey gets 7th grade math, Mary Anne gets 7th grade social studies, and Mal gets 8th grade English. Everyone but Mal is happy with their classes... she's worried about teaching kids so much older than her, and gets really upset. Kristy promises to help because she and Mary Anne are both in the class she'll be teaching.
The teacher Kristy's taking over for is Ms. Walden, a really stern teacher that no one likes much. She has a habit of picking on the unathletic kids, and the first thing she tells Kristy is to not expect much from the class. (Sadly, in my experience, this is how most gym teachers are.) Kristy's not only confident she won't have any problems, she thinks that after watching her in action Ms. Walden will learn a better way to deal with the students! She's so confident, in fact, that she hardly listens to any of the instructions, until she finds out she'll have to work with Mr. De Young's student teacher, because the class is co-ed. Naturally, this turns out to be none other than Cary Retlin.
Abby warns Kristy to make a lesson plan like she was told to do, but Kristy shrugs her off, insisting that you don't really need one for gym. She walks into her first teaching session feeling completely prepared, but right off the bat she has to deal with Cary mimicking her. They tell the gym teachers that they don't want to work together, but they tell them it's taught jointly and that's that. Kristy's also planned a dance style warm up routine that she thought would be more fun for the girls, but Cary's still mocking her, so the kids don't take her seriously, many of them refusing to try it. He even gets most of the class doing a conga line instead. Then during the soccer game, he picks up the ball and just runs around with it. Kristy's fuming by the end of the period.
When she tells Abby about what happened, she tells Kristy not to take it so seriously. She was really set on wanting to show Ms. Walden how she could improve the class though, so she's furious that Cary ruined it.
Later that day, Mal also has her first teaching session with Kristy's English class. She's so nervous that she keeps dropping the papers and blushing, so right away the kids don't take her seriously. When Mal writes a limerick on the board, her hands are visibly shaking, and she ends up breaking the chalk. Cokie and Grace keep calling her "Spaz Girl", and several other kids keep cracking jokes at her expense to make the class laugh. Mrs. Simon, the regular teacher, intervenes several times. Mal soldiers on until the end of class, but looks ready to cry at any moment. A few kids try to help her by asking thoughtful questions, only to be undermined by other kids asking mocking ones. To top all this off, someone starts circulating a limerick about Mal around the room.
The next day at school, Ms. Walden calls a meeting with Kristy, and advises her to make a combined lesson plan with Cary. Determined to be a success, Kristy works on a lesson plan, makes lists, and designs a whole new workout routine. She doesn't go over any of it with Cary though, knowing he'll just make snide comments.
During her second gym class, the kids are listening better and actually participating. Even Cary's not being too bad, but Kristy's being her extra bossy self and blowing her whistle at the kids a lot. The kids refuse to get into the teams Kristy assigned them, and Cary undermines her by letting them pick. Kristy ends up coaching one team, and Cary the other... so predictably, she gets really competitive. The kids even end up literally fighting by the end.
Kristy and Cary are sent to the principal, where Cary admits they got the kids too worked up, and they took cues from him and Kristy arguing constantly. Mr. Kingbridge yells at them that several students were hurt, and they might not even have the TOT program next year now.
Mortified after being scolded, Kristy slips into English late. Mallory's teaching an Emily Dickinson poem, and the class is still heckling her. Kristy tries to help, but Mrs. Simon has to intervene, and ends up assigning the class a ten page paper on Emily Dickinson as punishment for their behavior. Of course this makes them even less fond of Mal, who ends up leaving in tears. Kristy later tells her that she's too nice to the kids, and she needs to come in and take control.
That afternoon, Kristy, Mary Anne, and Mal hang out and work on their new lesson plans together. Kristy decides to teach cooperation by having a pass-a-thon... a big game where the kids have to pass the ball to each other. (I'm extremely surprised Kristy and Cary are allowed to teach their final day after causing a big brawl, but that's Stoneybrook for you...)
The pass-a-thon is a success, and Ms. Walden is so pleased with their improvement that she tells them they can coach the kids for their big soccer game at the end of the unit.
Unfortunately, Mal's last class doesn't go nearly as well. It's pretty chaotic still, the kids won't listen to her at all, and Ms. Simon has to step in and punish them again. Mal ends the class with a moving poetry reading, but the damage is done. Mal still feels terrible even after it's over, and the whole school is now calling her Spaz Girl.
Side plot: Vanessa Pike starts teaching poetry to her siblings.
Timeline:
No particular season is indicated, but since school is back in session it's probably September.
Misc. thoughts:
*Seems like Abby and Kristy have been hanging out a lot, much more than Kristy and Mary Anne do. They don't even seem very close anymore.
*This book says Andrew's 5, but we're always told he's 4 usually, and I don't think he ever ages past that.
*Anna and Shannon have become good friends.
*Mallory's been reading a lot of Emily Dickinson lately, which is why she decides to teach her to her class.
*Kristy wants to use lesson plans for the BSC, haha... I can't say I'm surprised.
*I didn't realize going into this book that it's the beginning of Mal having trouble at SMS and ultimately leaving, but that's clearly the case. Honestly though, the teasing isn't that bad... everyone goes through a time where they get picked on in school. You can't just run away from your problems. Don't get me wrong, I know being teased day after day is the worst, especially at this age, but just leaving school isn't going to teach her anything about overcoming her problems.
*Claudia can't tell when Claire, a FIVE year old, spells "house" wrong. Wouldn't she have rudimentary spelling skills down just from reading all her Nancy Drews? Reading is the best way to learn spelling, and she does read... her academic problems seem like they've gotten more and more exaggerated as the series goes on.
*The situation in here with Mal really is ultimately the school's fault though. Why would you ever assign a 6th grader to teach 8th grade? Do they really think that's going to go well? Not to mention she's two years behind them... she doesn't know the subject matter, and obviously the kids are going to know that and take advantage. If they do the program every year, it should be 8th grade only, or at least 6th graders can only teach 6th grade classes.
*Anna, Logan, Cokie, and Alan are all teaching classes also.
*It really annoys me how we're always told how shy Mary Anne is, but then she does all sorts of things a really shy person would never do, like signing up for this program. She's actually pretty outgoing. It seems like she just uses her shy label to avoid things she doesn't like or doesn't want to do.
*The English class Mal was teaching has both Alan Gray and Cokie in it! This girl never stood a chance...
*The limerick the class wrote about Mal:
There once was a Spaz Girl
named Mallory
She taught, but not for salary
Her joy was to aim
Deadly chalk and maim
Her students, like ducks in a shooting gallery.
*Despite being a 90s kid, I'd never heard of umbros before this book. Remember these?
Books mentioned:
*"The Jumblies" by Edward Lear
*"I'm nobody! Who are you?" by Emily Dickenson
*"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost
My rating:
3 stars. This was better and more serious than I expected. Are these books getting better, or am I just already nostalgic for them?
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