A Drawing
Title
A Drawing
Identifier
A_DRAWING
Creator
Jacob Schlitt
Description
"I recently wrote a piece about my very limited experience as a substitute teacher."
Date
2016-01-14
Coverage
1950
Format
application/pdf
Type
text
Language
en
Text
A DRAWING
I recently wrote a piece about my very limited experience as a substitute teacher. The experience was limited to the months of March and April 1950. The most challenging day was in the girl’s junior high school in my neighborhood in the East Bronx, but most of my assignments were in two elementary schools in Harlem. After the first couple visits, I had gotten the hang of it, and it actually was fun. I was assigned to a fourth or fifth grade class, I quickly reviewed what was supposed to be taught for the day, and got to it.
Most of the kids were helpful. When they saw a substitute, they knew they weren’t going to do much work, and were surprised when they realized that I meant business. After the first few days as a substitute, I realized that most of the other substitutes gave the kids busy work, and sat and read the newspaper, looking up only when there was a disturbance. I had them take out their textbooks and we tried to do whatever it was that was their assignments for the day: English, history, math etc.
Toward the end of the day was “art” or “drawing.” I remember passing out drawing paper and asking the students to draw whatever came to mind. I expected rocket ships or airplanes, trees, houses, stick figures, etc. Everyone got to work and seemed to be enjoying themselves. At the end of the hour, I asked them to sign their work and collected them. I believe I showed them to the class and complimented the artists on their accomplishments.
The class was then dismissed. I had earned my $16. Nothing untoward had happened. No disruptions, no fights. And perhaps my students even learned something. When I started looking over the drawing, one caught my attention. It was very carefully drawn. There were two figures, a man and a woman. The woman was in a kitchen. She was holding a frying pan. At the other end of the paper, there was a man standing in the doorway. He was holding a gun. And there was a dotted line, a bullet, going from the barrel of the gun to the head of the woman. Wow!
I recently wrote a piece about my very limited experience as a substitute teacher. The experience was limited to the months of March and April 1950. The most challenging day was in the girl’s junior high school in my neighborhood in the East Bronx, but most of my assignments were in two elementary schools in Harlem. After the first couple visits, I had gotten the hang of it, and it actually was fun. I was assigned to a fourth or fifth grade class, I quickly reviewed what was supposed to be taught for the day, and got to it.
Most of the kids were helpful. When they saw a substitute, they knew they weren’t going to do much work, and were surprised when they realized that I meant business. After the first few days as a substitute, I realized that most of the other substitutes gave the kids busy work, and sat and read the newspaper, looking up only when there was a disturbance. I had them take out their textbooks and we tried to do whatever it was that was their assignments for the day: English, history, math etc.
Toward the end of the day was “art” or “drawing.” I remember passing out drawing paper and asking the students to draw whatever came to mind. I expected rocket ships or airplanes, trees, houses, stick figures, etc. Everyone got to work and seemed to be enjoying themselves. At the end of the hour, I asked them to sign their work and collected them. I believe I showed them to the class and complimented the artists on their accomplishments.
The class was then dismissed. I had earned my $16. Nothing untoward had happened. No disruptions, no fights. And perhaps my students even learned something. When I started looking over the drawing, one caught my attention. It was very carefully drawn. There were two figures, a man and a woman. The woman was in a kitchen. She was holding a frying pan. At the other end of the paper, there was a man standing in the doorway. He was holding a gun. And there was a dotted line, a bullet, going from the barrel of the gun to the head of the woman. Wow!
Original Format
application/msword
Collection
Citation
Jacob Schlitt, “A Drawing,” Autobiographical stories & other writing by Jacob Schlitt, accessed April 23, 2025, https://tsirlson.omeka.net/items/show/368.