Another Mr. Hand

Jeff Spicoli: I've been thinking about this, Mr. Hand. If I'm here and you're here, doesn't that make it our time? Certainly, there's nothing wrong with a little feast on our time.

Mr. Hand: [takes away box of pizza from Spicoli] You're absolutely right, Mr. Spicoli. It is our time. Yours, mine, and everyone else's in this room. But it is my class.

 “FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH” (1982)

When I first saw “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”, I laughed at the entire movie and found it funny that one of the characters shared my last name. I never thought in a million years that I would ever be a teacher myself, named Mr. Hand. And yet, here I am teaching.

My goal for this Substack is to write about my journey in teaching as a second career. I hope this might provide insights to those people considering teaching as a career, first or second. It’s hard work but it is a very meaningful job and I know that I’ve helped my students.

BACKGROUND

I worked for over 30 years in advertising and sales. I was a seller, a sales manager, and a Vice President of Sales, all in the media business. I had a great time. I enjoyed working with people and solving problems. However, due to a reorganization at my company, I was out as a sales executive.

I was stunned as I never expected it. What was I going to do? I did some consulting in the same advertising sales industry but really didn’t like it. I missed being part of a team. I did some volunteer work at a non-profit organization, which was helping to get homeless and low-income people off the streets and into jobs. I enjoyed helping people build resumes and doing practice job interviews. I also taught some classes about working at companies and general behavior in an office. I liked teaching these topics.

I decided to go back to school and get a master’s in education and my California state teaching credentials. I enjoyed being in the college class environment with others who were working to get their teaching credentials. I did my student teaching at an LAUSD charter school in Spring 2021. I was hired for a full-time teaching position for a 5^th grade gifted class. I will be starting my third year in mid-August.

TEACHING AND SELLING  “The Hook”

I’ve given hundreds of presentations when I was in the advertising sales business. I’ve sat through hundreds of presentations. I have a good idea what makes a great presentation, a good presentation, and a bad presentation.

A great presentation needs a “hook” to bring in and engage your audience with your message. The same holds true for a classroom. I needed to start the school day with something that would grab the attention of 5^th grade students. This starts the school day in a positive way and helps with a good transition to classroom time.

I like to start the class by listening to the students. What did they do over the weekend? Yesterday after school? Anything funny happen to you? After listening to them, then I will go into something interesting that happened to me...if it’s a Monday, I will talk about how my various favorite sports teams performed over the weekend. We might talk about something that is currently in the news. I often open this time up for any questions that they may have about any topic. The important thing for me is to get them in a question-and-answer mind frame to begin class.

TEACHING AND SELLING  “Setting expectations”

In a sales presentation, I want to set the expectations of my audience as to what they can expect from the presentation. I explain what I’m going to be discussing and what they can expect to learn from the presentation.

The same holds true for talking with my students about the upcoming day. We walk through the agenda that I have written on a whiteboard. I explain how today’s activities relate to what we have been doing previously and how they will be important to understand before we move forward. In my first year of teaching, I wasn’t clear enough about how everything we do in class relates to what we are learning in the lessons. I’m more conscious about that now.

One thing I really like about teaching is that I’m learning something new every day from the students. I listen to what they say and often get on one knee to look at them at eye level. Even though I have each day’s lessons and activities planned, each day is different.

Mr. Hand turns out to be a good guy in “Fast Times” and earns Jeff Spicoli’s respect. While I was definitely a bit more like Spicoli in high school, I’m doing my best every day to be the best Mr. Hand I can be for my students.