Geography Lesson by JF Chavoor

Geography Lesson

J F Chavoor

We like this story because:
It highlights that the best part of
teaching is communication, making
that connection and producing that
light-bulb moment...

The sub lady liked me because I never said no to any assignment. I had no idea that
people would actually turn down an assignment, an opportunity to meet and make an
impression on principals and teachers, and a turning down money, well that was just un-
Armenian. I subbed at the toughest middle schools—Yosemite, Sequoia, Tehipitie—and the
toughest high school, Edison, in Fresno. It was challenging, but not as scary as some people
made them out to be.    So when a long term position came up, the sub lady called me and said
she was offering the job to me first because I went wherever she sent me. The assignment
was a pull-out program to improve reading skills for students in a geography class. The
regular English teacher at Edison who was given the assignment considered it so
objectionable that he got a doctor to said he was having a nervous breakdown and needed
the entire second semester off. That was the rumor, anyway. The English teachers there hated
the idea and wouldn’t talk to me or the other two teachers assigned there. The geography
teachers did not like the program and they wouldn’t talk to us but they certainly had no
problem cherry picking their most ill-behaved kids, not just students with poor reading skills.
I had a class of six students, a 6’ 4” 275 pound student named Charles among them who
greeted me every morning with a threat. I decided it would be better to assume he was being
facetious.


“Good morning, Charles.”


“Man, shut up, Ima blow you up.”


“Come on, man, I’m just saying good morning.”


“How come I ain’t in the regular class? Why I gotta be in here?”


“This class was designed to improve your reading skills.”


“It’s only six of us in here.”


“That’s right.”


“You think it’s only six people gotta improve they reading skills?”


“I didn’t decide that part.”


“Man, it ain’t right.”


“Come on, Charles. This class is cool to me.”


“Yeah? How come?”


“It only takes me a minute to take roll.”


“Ima blow you up, man.”


“Go get your book and your notebook.”


“Where Tracy at?”


“Tracy?”


“Yeah.”


“I don’t know. He doesn’t come to class very often.”


“He ditchin’.”


“Yeah?”


“He always ditchin’.”


“Well, I’m glad you’re here.”


“It ain’t nobody else.”


“Don’t worry, they’ll come.”


AJ arrived soon after, then Yolanda. Darius came in after the bell rang. I let it slide, hoping
that five weeks into the semester, he might actually say something.


“All right. Everybody have their book and their notebook?”


“AJ holdin his upside down!” Charles said.


“Man, shut up,” AJ snapped, “you ain’t never even read no book.”


“Yeah I have too,” Charles replied, pantomiming the opening of a centerfold.


“That’s right. That’s all you ever got,” AJ said, pointing and laughing.


“That’s enough,” I said. “Now open your books to chapter 6. We’re starting a new unit today.”


“Africa?” Yolanda shouted when she found chapter 6, “I ain’t reading about no Africa!”


She snapped the book shut.


“What we reading about Africa for?” Charles said.


“Yeah,” AJ said. “Is it cuz we black?"


“It’s the next chapter,” I said.


“I already told you Ima blow you up,” Charles said, pointing at me.


“Well, first I want you to look up at the board. See that word there at the top? I want you to
write it down in your notebook.”


“Where it at?” Charles asked.


“He just told you, fool.”


“At the top, Charles.”


“I ain't gotta pencil, Teacher,” AJ said.


“You came to class unprepared?” I asked.


“I had one but I lost it,” he replied.


“You gotta learn to hold on to your stuff, AJ. Seems like you lose pencils every day.”


“That fool lyin, Teacher,” Tanya said.


“AJ, you can borrow a pencil from someone. Use theirs after they’re done,” I said.


“Ah, man.”


“What is that word anyway?” Charles asked.


“Imperialism,” I said.


“Impa what?” Tanya said.


“It’s like acquisition by a government of other governments or of, like, territories and natural
resources,” I said, reciting the definition in the text.


“You don’t make no kinda sense,” Charles said.


“I heard that,” AJ said.


“Ok, it’s like this. Let’s say I went over the Charles’ house.”


“What? You comin’ to my house? What for?”


“Just listen, now. I come over to your house. And your mom’s like, Oh, have a seat. Would you
like a Pepsi?”


“Naw, she be like, Get the hell out my house!”


“Maybe,” I said, “but so, I’m in your house. And I’m on the couch and watching TV.”


“That ain’t gonna happen,” Charles said.


“Yeah,” AJ said, “it ain’t no TV at his house!”


“Better shut up, fool,” Charles said.


“But it gets worse,” I said.


“Worse?” Tanya said.


“Yeah. I start living at his house. I take food out of his refrigerator. After a while I take a sign
and nail it on the front door.”


"What? Takin food? Oh HELL no!" Charles said.


“What that sign" say?” AJ asked.


“It says Chavoor’s House .”


AJ started laughing.


“Ah, hell no,” Charles said. “That’s when I really do get me a gun.”


“Yeah but I got more weapons than you.”


“What’s the point of this?” Tanya asked.


“Don’t matter,” Charles said, “don’t care how many guns you got.”


“And then I say to Mrs. Green, You are going to pay me to live here from now on.”


“I say you out your natural mind,” Charles said.


“That’s what imperialism is.”


“That’s some crazy-ass shit,” AJ said.


Darius stirred from his trance and smiled for half a second.


“Watch your language, AJ,” I said.


“Throw him out, Teacher,” Charles said.


“Whatever, man,” AJ said.

“I think what AJ meant was the idea of imperialism is crazy.”

“Well so what we supposed to learn offa that?” Charles said.


“It’s our lesson about Africa.”


“Why we gotta talk about that country?”

“Africa is a continent. It’s made up of a lot of different countries, Charles.”

“Whatever.”

“It has all kinds of natural resources that other countries didn’t have, or didn’t have a lot of.”

“Yeah,” Charles said, “like tigers, snakes, elephants and AJ’s mom!”

“Nah, it was your grandma and she was…”

“Stop right there, both of you.”

“He started it,” AJ said.

“Nuh-uh, naw. You know lyin,” Charles said.

“Both y’all need to shut up,” Tanya said, “I’m tired of listenin to y’all.”

“The continent of Africa has gold, platinum, diamonds and lots of other valuable resources.
And some of the European countries thought well we’ll just go over there and stick a flag on
their land and say, this belongs to us now. And then they started taking out the diamonds and
gold.”

“What?” Tanya said.

“Damn,” AJ said.

“I ain’t sayin nothing outloud, Teacher. You sure would throw me out, fast,” Charles said.

“I think I understand, Charles.”

“What is you, anyway?”

“What?”

“I mean, Mexican, or what?”

“I’m Armenian,” I said.

“A what?”

“I know those Armenians,” Tanya said, “they rich.”

“Not all of us,” I said.

“Know what? Ima blow me up some imperialists.”

“Nah, Charles, you don’t want to do that,” I said

“Why not?”

“Well, I don’t think that would make things better. But for right now, let’s open our books and
see what chapter 6 has to say.”

“Man, you all right, Chavoor.”

“Thank you, Charles.”

We read a large chunk of chapter six. The analogy made it real for them and they read avidly.
It was the best day we ever had in that class. I consider it one of my better teaching moments.

© JF Chavoor

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