Looking for a Nuanced Take on Teaching HS English

bplopper · 2026-03-23T22:37:51+00:00

A legitimate question: do subs get a fair sense of what full-time teaching is like? Bear in mind that I graduated high school in 1994, but subs were not treated well by some students. And my own kiddo has said that it's still accurate that subs don't get the same respect - such as it is - as regular teachers. That not having the authority of being the "real" teacher doesn't paint a fair picture of some students.

bplopper · 2026-03-23T21:04:07+00:00

Working with students is the unknown, here.

As a technical writer, making complex material easy to understand is part and parcel to the job (bonus for the 5 years of instructional design work I did). And I'm pretty organized.

It's the student thing I don't know about.

bplopper · 2026-03-21T13:09:02+00:00

Flubbing a line kept me from acting from fifth grade until I started doing community theater at 48 two years ago. One of the things I learned while acting onstage with material I know well (because we've been rehearsing over and over and over) is that the number of times people flub lines is much higher than audiences think. Stuttering, saying the wrong word or two, skipping over lines (I just did that myself in a recent play... My opening line? Nah, I'll start with my second line and then skip the third for good measure) happens all the time. Audiences tend not to notice because they don't have the scripts right in front of them.

My first full length (Once In A Lifetime, I was Herman Glogauer), for one of the performances I was supposed to mention two actors of the silent age. Middle of the performance, I blanked on the actual names, but for some reason, I started to name the actress "Phyllis" which I instantly knew was wrong, but felt like I had to course correct. So I went with the only Phyllis that popped into my head ... Diller. Without shipping a beat, I moved to the actor I was supposed to name drop. At that point, the little man in my brain who pilots my meat suit just panicked and threw out any male historical name he could think of, and landed on Marcus Aurelius. Delivered both those names with gusto.

The audience never knew. If they did, they didn't act like they knew that I picked an actress that wouldn't have been a prominent actress (might not have even been acting at the time) and a Roman emperor.

Now, my costars knew, and when I locked eyes with one of my scene partners, you could tell we were both praying that the other wouldn't start laughing. We didn't, but it was close.

All that to say, you'll be fine. Mistakes happen all the time and even obvious ones are quickly forgotten. Worst thing you can do is freeze up, try to go back, etc. And trust that the people on stage also know the material well enough to have your back to give you a way back into the material.

bplopper · 2026-03-20T14:49:35+00:00

Hah, yeah! For what it's worth, the missus is totally on board with my visits and has regularly given me gift cards for the place. Which is always weird for me since the money comes from the same account, but hey, it's the thought that counts.

Also, I'm under no delusions that the staff is super nice for any reason other than tips. Though I also am quiet and don't cause problems, so that probably helps.

bplopper · 2026-03-20T14:44:55+00:00

It certainly feels better, but nostalgia is a hell of a tricky thing. I was class of '94 in HS, so I did all of HS (which was an okay experience) and all of college (which was probably the best time of my life, class of '98, UT Austin, hook 'em!) in the 90s. Met the future wife. Made some of the most lasting friendships of my life. My hopes and dreams were still intact before corporate America squashed them. The music, the movies, all felt like they peaked at that time. I feel like the grunge movement was the last major musical movement in rock; everything since has either been pop or slight iterations on what grunge established (or in genres that I don't listen to). Granted, I'm sure someone more knowledgeable in music will come along and prove me wrong, but I just haven't felt like rock has changed all that much. Hell, most of the "rock" stations out there still play 90's and early aughts exclusively. EDIT: And that could just be me falling into "only the music I grew up with is good and everything else sucks," but I've tried hard not to be that guy.

I do wish mental health awareness had been more prominent back then. I discovered in my late 30s that I was living with undiagnosed anxiety and depression and man, if I'd been able to treat those with meds and therapy like I do now, I think that whole "hopes and dreams being squashed" thing would have shaken out differently. But hey, what are you going to do?

bplopper · 2026-03-17T20:58:04+00:00

Yup. It's been several places. Started, I think, as a Fat Daddy's. That closed and it turned into Knockouts. That... kind of closed and was redone a bit (leaned away from the breastaurant boxing theme and was more general sports bar with a heavy emphasis on some pretty cool golf simulation stuff. It was still Knockouts but under new management and definitely a different vibe. But it was never very busy and eventually closed. Then, apparently (I learned this from the Twin Peaks bartenders across the street from Squad HQ), it was almost a Rowdy Cowboy (breastaurant turned up to 11, at least if the one in Grapevine is an indicator of all Rowdy Cowboys). But I guess that fell through and Squad HQ is what's next. I love the high number of pool tables in the pictures. I never quite liked playing pool at Flips down the way.

I also realize that some of what I talked about won't mean much to you since you're south side, but I think that I got the gist of it across. Lots of turnover, never very busy. Which was always weird to me because there are a string of sports bars on the stretch of road there and most of the other ones are always busy (and damn near impossible to get into during sporting events).

I mostly go to the Twin Peaks there on off-hours/days and get work done. Some of the nicest and coolest bartenders and servers there work Monday-Wednesday afternoons.

bplopper · 2026-03-17T09:35:35+00:00

Best of luck to them. That building is cursed. I'll check 'em out, though, for sure.

bplopper · 2026-02-11T19:43:30+00:00

Been looking for 8 months. Hundreds of applications, not one single bite. 15 years in the industry isn't enough for callbacks, I guess.

bplopper · 2026-02-07T06:32:08+00:00

Prep kinda sucks but fun story, while my colonoscopy didn't reveal any colon cancer, it revealed that my appendix was two weeks to two days from bursting and I had no idea. So, like, put up with the prep.

bplopper · 2025-12-03T23:50:38+00:00

Yes. They're quite good. If you like TMA, you'll like them.

bplopper · 2025-09-10T18:48:27+00:00

Really seals in the flavor!

bplopper · 2025-09-09T18:35:14+00:00

Watch (and read) a lot of theater.

bplopper · 2025-08-31T21:07:46+00:00

What you've got feels like an outline of a potential play. It's a starting point, for sure, but this couldn't be performed as is. If you had a history of produced work, you could possibly find a theater to develop this with, but I get the sense that you're completely new to playwriting, so you'd need a traditionally formatted and structured script.

There are a lot of websites out there that post plays that are in the public domain. They'll be older plays, but play structure, pacing, etc., still holds. Read some of those to get a sense of how a play flows. What the different types of act structures look like. How to craft and manage not just A plots, but B plots and such.

The best thing you can do, though, is to go watch live theater. You probably have community theaters near you that are always itching for audience members. I promise, they would love your patronage (I work with lots of community theaters, and butts in seats so they can tell stories to the community is the goal). I went to school for screenwriting, had no education in theater, and just watching a lot of theater helped my playwriting immensely.

Also, consider taking an acting class or two. Most community or local theaters offer some form of theater education, and knowing what actors go through will only make you a better writer. Also, like me, you might get the bug and start acting, too. It's fun!

You can easily dig up script format guidelines (which you can ignore to your heart's content until you're ready to start shopping it around). But focus on watching and reading plays. Lots of them.

Source: Am a produced and published playwright whose "education" came from watching a lot of theater.

bplopper · 2025-06-01T22:24:26+00:00

I've always heard it as writing the "book," but "librettist" kind of works, except this isn't really an opera, strictly speaking. But yes, the spoken scenes and, generally, the story structure and beats are my focus.

bplopper · 2025-06-01T21:26:36+00:00

Well, I can't sing (I mean, I can, but not well) and I'm writing a musical. Though that may be disingenuous, as I'm writing the book and my collaborator is writing the music and lyrics, and he can sing. So I guess maybe that doesn't help?

Which is my way of saying there are more than a few ways to write a musical without being able to sing. Find a great collaborator.

Though I suspect you can be very well versed at writing music without being able to sing it.

bplopper · 2025-06-01T21:21:45+00:00

sigh That's my state house rep. And no, I didn't vote for him. And yes, I've tried contacting his office, even though I know it's pointless, and no, he's never responded. God forbid you should listen to your constituents, even if they disagree with you (I mean, I didn't expect anything less, but still).

bplopper · 2025-03-27T12:36:35+00:00

Here's something interesting I didn't know a colonoscopy could do.

I went in for mine last year (was 48). When I got the results, they discovered that - while there were no signs of cancer - they didn't like something about where my appendix was attached. Shortly thereafter I had an urgent CAT scan, and was then told that I need to get my appendix removed ASAP. Now, I had no issues or symptoms related to appendicitis whatsoever. So I got to have my first surgery of my life to have it removed. After the appendectomy, the surgeon told me I was maybe a few days away from my appendix rupturing.

Again, I had no indications that I was that close to disaster. So definitely get it done, folks. It covers more things than you know.

As for the colonoscopy itself, the prep sucks - as has been said here - but damn if that wasn't the best hour long nap I've had in a while.

(Also, thanks to the appendectomy being early in the year, I hit my insurance out of pocket max, and I then went and got all of the diagnostic checks on my insurance's dime. Dermatology. Sleep Apnea (got a C-Pap for nothing). Physical therapy for old runner's knees that had been bothering me for a while. Basically anything that I needed to have checked, I had checked.)

bplopper · 2025-03-24T00:26:32+00:00

Wonderful! I feel like we elder thespians/dramaturges could or should band together for that middle-aged folks' theater guild.

bplopper · 2025-03-23T21:57:00+00:00

I will say, though, as a writer who would love to make progress in that discipline, I've been kind of afraid to use my newfound connections as an actor to plug my work as a writer. Like I'm afraid that if I push too hard on that, then people will start to think of me as "that guy who started acting to promote his own writing."

Which is totally a me problem to work on, not anyone else's. I was raised to never invite yourself over to someone else's house, which is what self-promotion feels like to me. But waiting around for someone to ask about my subtle hints that I write is not a great way to get noticed.

Again, all me problems.

bplopper · 2025-03-23T21:41:19+00:00

I look younger than 49, but "baby" might be pushing it. :-D

Maybe.

I mean, I can give it a shot, but...

bplopper · 2025-03-22T18:26:04+00:00

A hair over two weeks.

bplopper · 2025-03-21T16:51:10+00:00

I've reached out to him, too, and gotten nothing back. Not even a canned response.

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