Girl On Fire

There are many memories I have from my student teaching days. Some were good. Some were bad. Some were unbelieveable. Some completely dull and useless. The most memorable is a true story, one for which no college course could ever prepare you.

I was assigned to a wonderful seasoned teacher of the fifth grade. She was thorough, helpful and filled with the wisdom of Solemon or his wife. The best advice she ever gave me, however, had to do with home life. "Do not hesitate to hire someone to help you at home. You will have better days if you hire someone to help you out. Teaching is rewarding, but it can be exhausting, and there is nothing you will want to do, like cleaning or cooking, after you get home in the evening after a full day. That turned out to be very true, especially after getting married and having two rambuncious boys.

I was looking forward to having my own classroom, and this was my first experience practice teaching. It was a gifted and talented fifth grade at a public school. We had our gifted and talented students as well as a mixture of gifted, talented and impulsive students. If you are thinking that the "impulsive" students had a major part to play in this episode, you must be a teacher and you are absolutely right!

It was mid semester and Mrs. Marlene was big on having her students do hands on science experiments. We had built marshmellow towers, and float and sank a million objects. We blew up baking soda volcanoes and inflated balloons, propelled toy cars and motor boats all in the name of science. One afternoon she decided to do something a bit more mature and untried in her classroom setting.

It was the mysterious experiment of writing on a piece of paper with a que tip and lemon juice. Then, holding it above a candle flame, the words would magically appear as the sugar in the lemon juice browned. The students had written up their experiments and made their hypothesis as to what might happen. None predicted what happened next.

There was a pan of water in which we placed the candle. It was unclear to me then as to why this was necessary. I am still not sure today, but was so glad the water was present. As one student held the paper over the flame with tongs and the students peered at the paper The impulsive boy, grabbed the edge of the paper to see what was occurring and doing so lit the paper on fire! As if that was not enough, he panicked and threw the paper into the air. It came floating down right in front of me and I guided it into the pan of water.

It was down and it was out. A bit shaken, moving toward relief, I struggled to maintain my composure and the calm of the group. I looked up at my students who were all staring at me in awe. I thought it was what I had done in rescuing the paper. One student pointed at my head which I realized, with a sensation of heat, that the gel in my hair had ignited!!! I began patting my head all over with my bare hands and the fire went out. A student reassured me that it was out. I looked at the supervising teacher who was across the room, with her own group of students. She was stunned, her mouth agape. I announced, "everyone, please blow out your candles." I then excused myself and headed to the teacher's lounge, still patting my head, lest the student was incorrect about the fire.

In the teachers' lounge, I started to shake. I looked at my hair. Minor damage, no missing spots, an unmistakable odor that my hair had been on fire. I cried. I paced. I washed my hands and face with cold water. I returned to the classroom unaware of how much time had passed. The students had cleaned up the experiments and were onto reading.

My supervising teacher never mentioned the incident to me or my college professor. I did get a glowing review at the close of my semester with that class (glowing, did you catch that!!) I DID mention it to the fire chief for whom I had been working doing small typing jobs. He informed me that it was illegal to have an open flame in any elementary school classroom and proceeded to tell me what a horrible disaster the experiment could have caused. I looked him in the eyes, my hand on my hip, nodding, "Really!? No kidding, I said!" He rushed over and hugged me realizing the ludacris comment he had just made. I worked five part time jobs at one time to support my family while I was in college. Five jobs, I held at one time, while raising my two toddler boys and going to school full time! Yes, YES I am bragging, afterall, I was a girl on fire!