Many teachers at Thurgood Marshall Middle School teach many different subjects, but what they teach wasn’t they’re first love.
Mr. Stephenson, who teaches LAP reading among other classes would have taught archaeology.
“I just love history and I love archaeology. The history part of it, the research part of it is fun. I also like learning the process of a procedure like finding cultural related sites and the discovery part of it. So, as an archaeologist you have to discover new things and try to find the story behind it. We would definitely have a guest speaker, trials and equipment, and do a couple practice sites, excavation sites, not real ones of course. It would just be fun to teach the procedure and excavate a site where you think something is important.”
Mr. Stephenson fell in love with archaeology while working for the Ashley National Forest after graduating college. “They hired me to write technical papers, but there were so many wildfires at that time they asked me to be apart of their crew and do the excavations like an archaeologist for a summer and it was neat. I wish I could have done it for the rest of my life, but I was in the right place at the right time.”
Myles Tolefree, eighth grader at TMMS, would love to teach gym class. “I would build the younger kids into demons. It would basically be boot camp. 100 push ups, 100 sit ups, 25 pull ups. if you talk out of line…that’s going down in your grade…If you refuse to do it I will fail you. I think kids these days are getting lazy and they need to step it up.”
Tolefree said, “Like I said push ups, sit ups, pull ups, 48s, and running quarter miles every day. …Also breathing exercises you know just everything you basically would do if you were in boot camp.”
Mrs. Curry, TMMS math teacher, would teach wire-wrapping jewelry making if she had the option. “I would start by teaching students which quality materials to use. I use sterling silver, copper, and gold-filled wire. Also, I would teach students to identify the most common gemstones, like amethyst, peridot, ruby, sapphire, pearls, onyx, topaz, and garnet. I would teach them the birthstones for each month (garnet, amethyst, aquamarine, diamond, pearl, ruby, peridot, pink topaz, citrine, and turquoise. Then I would teach a basic eye loop and wire wrap around a single briolette. I would then teach them how to make a basic earwire. I would teach them how to use a hammer and anvil to harden the wire and then how to oxide the silver using a liver of sulfur. After students attach their wire wrap to the earwires and oxidize their piece, I would teach them how to use a tumbler to finish their piece, which polishes and hardens the wire. After these basic techniques, I would structure the class as a maker’s space, where students could choose their own projects and I could work in small groups to teach more advanced techniques.
