Waiting for my hair to dry...
Jan. 18th, 2005 10:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ursangnomeSo, all in all, substitute teaching doesn't have all that much to recommend it. Sure, some income is better than none, but the negatives are pretty heavy. But one small thing it has done for me is give me more time to read.
A typical high school or junior high teacher has a lunch break, and usually a couple periods a day for prepping class. If I were a full-fledged teacher, I'd need the time to grade papers, prepare notes, and so on. But as a sub, there's not a whole lot of constructive use you can make of these periods. Rather than sit there bored out of my skull, I read.
A little while ago, I found an almost perfect book for this - Peter David's Star Trek: New Frontier. The volume I found is actually the first four books of the series, bound in a hardcover the size of a standard paperback. I wonder why more series don't use this format. It's easy to handle, stands up to life in a backpack without notably showing signs of wear, and attractively priced ($15 retail for the equivalent of four smallish paperbacks). A great gateway into a longer series.
Also, David does good work here. It is a Star Trek novel, yes, but it's a good star Trek novel. It's not deathless art, but it did keep me solidly entertained. Not so deep that I had problems picking it up and putting it down as need demanded, but gripping enough that I did find myself tempted to read the thing while I was home, instead of saving it for work. The tome won additional points for being able to make me laugh out loud even after dealing with 7th graders. So, for these purposes, the book was pretty much perfect.
The only problem I've found with the book is that I finished it during lunch today, and I need to find something else to take with me on my next subbing assignment. Hrrr....
A typical high school or junior high teacher has a lunch break, and usually a couple periods a day for prepping class. If I were a full-fledged teacher, I'd need the time to grade papers, prepare notes, and so on. But as a sub, there's not a whole lot of constructive use you can make of these periods. Rather than sit there bored out of my skull, I read.
A little while ago, I found an almost perfect book for this - Peter David's Star Trek: New Frontier. The volume I found is actually the first four books of the series, bound in a hardcover the size of a standard paperback. I wonder why more series don't use this format. It's easy to handle, stands up to life in a backpack without notably showing signs of wear, and attractively priced ($15 retail for the equivalent of four smallish paperbacks). A great gateway into a longer series.
Also, David does good work here. It is a Star Trek novel, yes, but it's a good star Trek novel. It's not deathless art, but it did keep me solidly entertained. Not so deep that I had problems picking it up and putting it down as need demanded, but gripping enough that I did find myself tempted to read the thing while I was home, instead of saving it for work. The tome won additional points for being able to make me laugh out loud even after dealing with 7th graders. So, for these purposes, the book was pretty much perfect.
The only problem I've found with the book is that I finished it during lunch today, and I need to find something else to take with me on my next subbing assignment. Hrrr....
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Date: 2005-01-20 05:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-20 09:34 pm (UTC)