Mrs. Applebottom
Editorial Article Written by Lesley Lorenz
Nanaimo Magazine January, 2008
I used to teach in a grade 5 classroom. The fun thing about teaching was that you could come up with some pretty interesting lessons plans and find unusual ways to get the curriculum across. That was pretty much my specialty as a teacher – to come up with a surprising way to sneak learning in when the students were least expecting it.
A key figure in my classroom was Mrs. Applebottom. Only a couple of mornings per year, I would put on a grey wig, horn-rimmed glasses and an over-stuffed house dress to wear to school. I would then present myself as their substitute for the day, Mrs. Applebottom. I faked an adequately croaky voice and a poor recollection of everyone’s names, and was just good enough at the acting stint that more than a few of the kids were not really sure if I was their usual teacher or not.
I would invite the kids to role-play – that is, to be an expert on some topic we were studying. Aided by a baseball cap and sunglasses or a cowboy hat and a flashlight from the costume box, they would get interviewed by their classmates on solar eclipses or equivalent fractions or the early pioneers. It proved to be quite entertaining and empowering, as confidence was boosted behind the ‘disguises’. By the end of the year, most of the kids were comfortable with public speaking and at least pretending they knew what they were talking about – a skill that comes in handy way too often in the adult business world.
At parent teacher interviews I would get asked by the parents whether there really was a Mrs. Applebottom, and sideways looks especially from the parents of the ESL students I taught (I gave lessons where they had to listen to and interpret popular songs like Ziggy Marley’s “Tomorrow People.”)
It was an unusual way to teach, but I am pretty sure that they were, at least, not bored. But that’s what learning – and ultimately our life journeys- are all about. Excitement about what just might happen tomorrow, because with some people, you just never know…
© Lesley Lorenz