A MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT

by Danna Shirley

            Moving from a small town elementary school with only one teacher for the entire day to being bussed to a junior high school and changing classes for every subject was a bit traumatizing to me.  My greatest fear was not finding all my different classrooms or remembering where I sat.  Each teacher had a different style and requirement so I was challenged on every front.

At least I learned to be comfortable in that setting before moving on to Richmond Union High School for tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grade.  Again I had to find my locker, remember my combination, find each of my classes on a campus that covered several city blocks, and learn each of my teacher’s quips and quirks.

At the end of every school year we were given an aptitude test to see where we would be placed the following year.  Because I was a slow reader and never finished the written portion of the test, I was always placed in a slow English class.  My mom, being a school teacher who knew how the system worked, would appeal to the powers that be to have me moved to a college prep course.

So, began my first year in high school, in a lower English class, until mom won my transfer to English 3 with Miss E. Alberta Best—bright red hair, never married, and very old to my teenage mentality.  I entered her room a week after school began and of course, missed her first day’s explanation of the Rules and Regulations in her classroom.  When the bell rang in all of my other classes, we packed up our books and left the room.  No other teacher objected to this routine until I became one of Miss E. Alberta Best’s students.  When the bell rang my first day in her class, I grabbed up my books and walked to the door.  I was the only one standing.  I looked around at everyone else still seated and then at Miss E. Alberta Best, and said, “Wasn’t that the bell?”

She replied, “You must be d-i-s-m-i-s-s-e-d from my class.”

“Oh,” I said, sitting back down while turning red from embarrassment.  At sixteen you want to be lost in a crowd, not stand out in one.  From that day on I was afraid to raise my hand, answer any questions, or be called upon in her class.  And believe me, she did call upon anyone who didn’t look prepared or was trying to hide from her.

I remember once when she called on me for an answer and I gave what I thought was correct. I still turned red for fear that it would be wrong.  It wasn’t, which totally surprised me, but my confidence was checked at the door every time I entered her room.  I do believe she loved embarrassing her students and bringing them down a peg or two.

Isn’t it sad that I have such happy memories of all of my years in high school except for Miss E. Alberta Best’s English 3 classroom?  I wonder if she was happy!