The "You're In Charge" Story

It was an ordinary day. I am heading to Penn Manor High School for my last day. I have been student teaching there for almost a semester. It is my senior year at Millersville State Teacher's College and I have to complete a semester of student teaching if I want to become a teacher. My cooperating teacher, Mr. Milton R. is a huge, burly man in his 50s who grew up on a farm in the same area as the high school. His hands are immense and he has a grip like a vise. He is the wood shop teacher and I have spent the last 3 months in his shop. I am a skinny, tall kid of 20 and am easily intimidated by him, but he has given me much insight into the field of teaching, both good and bad. A few weeks ago he told me he was going small game hunting for a few days and I was in charge of the classroom. OK. Told me just to let the students work on their projects and to finish a chapter in the shop math study guide. Didn't know any better at the time and I did what I was told. A week after he returned, he told me he was leaving the day after Thanksgiving for the mountains of Northern Pennsylvania to go deer hunting for a few days. Hey, I'm supposed to be the STUDENT teacher, not the fully paid teacher like he is. But, what do you do? Shut up and do what you are told, I guess. I want a good recommendation, after all. Tuesday after Thanksgiving I am visited by the principal of the high school as soon as I arrive in the morning. Seems that Mr. Milton R. died!! Had a heart attack while hunting in Northern PA. I was now the official wood shop teacher until I finished my semester in mid-December. Naturally, without pay! Thursday my supervising teacher from Millersville made his infrequent surprise visit to see how things were going. Saw me leading the class and congratulated me on doing a good job. Wanted to talk to Mr. Milton R. He hadn't seen the paper or gotten the news about his untimely death yet. He was stunned when I told him. "Who is your new cooperating teacher?" he wanted to know. "I don't have one. They told me I was in charge," I replied. Well, shortly after, I was visited again by my supervising teacher and told I was going to end my student teaching early. I was not allowed to be in charge of anything. I had no liability coverage as a student teacher if something should happen (hey, we're using big equipment) and Penn Manor could be in big trouble if something should happen in the class. They were going to have to have a fully paid teacher in the shop. My supervising teacher gave me a glowing recommendation and I was finished two weeks early. Shortly after, I received a series of job offers for a teaching position. I hadn't even graduated! Industrial Arts teachers were in short supply and if I was good enough to finish my student teaching early, they wanted me. I received an Emergency Certificate and took a job at Eastern York School District as the wood shop teacher. Now I was officially in charge and getting paid. I finished my course work the following summer and got my degree in August. Because of what happened to me during my student teaching, Millersville implemented new rules governing what a student teacher was allowed to do. One thing was they were never allowed to be unsupervised or unattended while doing their student teaching. Too risky! Student teachers throughout the state today no longer can be used as replacements for the teacher unless there is a paid substitute who holds the responsibility for any actions in the classroom. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.