The Chameleon

By M Singam

Grace Gonzales has spent her early teaching career as the only minority in a school district of almost entirely white staff. Tired of being singled out, she and her husband move back into the suburbs with her mom and she begins a long-term substitute job at a school in Minneapolis. Her life takes an unexpected turn when she buys a pet chameleon for her 6th grade classroom.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Feb 4, 2017
• ISBN: 9781365733659

Book preview

The Chameleon

By M. Singam

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

First Printing: 2017

ISBN 978-1-365-73365-9

Email: [e-mail]

Duck, Mrs. Gonzales! yelled one of my students, Arthur, as a pencil whizzed toward my head.

I should have known better than to join Teach, Teach, Teach, a substitute teaching company that I had never even heard of. And I shouldn’t have paused when they asked me if I wanted to take a long-term substitute teaching job in an inner-city school, the white code word for a school with a bunch of rowdy black kids who nobody gives a damn about.

Ironically, my last job as an elementary school reading teacher paid well and classroom management was a breeze. One week before the start of school, the principal took me, the only minority in a sea of white faces, aside to tell me that my position was being reduced. Quitting and living frugally with my husband in my mom’s basement in the ‘burbs seem like the right thing to do at the time.

Everyone needs to be sitting down in their seats! I barked, hoping the principal wasn’t within earshot of my out-of-control classroom. Anyone not in his or her seat by the time I count down from ten will get a phone call to his or her parents… 10-9-8-

As I looked around, most of the 6th graders scurried back to their seats. A few girls continued to talking with each other, oblivious or indifferent to the consequence.

7-6-5-4…. I paused. A few more students returned to their seats, the girls however, continued their conversation.

3-2-1-0. Keisha and Chastity. Come up to the front of the class now! You will need to make a phone call home. Everyone else, you need to be in your seats, working on your math problems or you too, will be making a call home to your parents.

I put my hands on my hips. Keisha started to complain, it’s unfair, she whined. We shouldn’t have gotten in trouble when nobody else did.

I waited while they called their parents and the hmmm, hmmms from their end of the phone conversation that followed. Keisha started back to her desk first, head hung low, feet dragging. She glared at me as she passed. I ignored her. Chastity didn’t even lift her head.

I hated the principal’s idea of calling home, and I’ve tried many different classroom management techniques in the weeks I’ve been here: counting down, 1,2,3 eyes on me, sending them down to Principal Winter’s office, removing them from the classroom. I’ve been trying all of them, including the calling home, and so far, that’s the only method that even come remotely close to working. Still the pencils flew and sassy attitudes continued--—DeShawn and Tyrone, Michael and Jayden, Alyssa and Destiny. Every kid wanted to test me. Every kid but Arthur. I could count on him to follow the directions.

About a month into my assignment, I became curious.

Arthur? Everyone in the class misbehaves. Everyone but you. Why? I asked.

Our last teacher, Mrs. Rodriguez, promised that she’d buy our class a pet if we could make it through the year with good behavior. She’s the only Spanish teacher I’ve known before you. I want a class pet. He answered, before going back to his worksheet.

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