🌹 OPEN

[recluserose]

WHO: Amelia Steinbeck (recluserose) and Others
WHERE: Throughout the hotel.
WHEN: October 25th-26this, varying times of the day.
WHAT: Acclimating to the hotel and floor explorations.
WARNINGS: N/A for now, also prompts in comments.



(X)

Comments

day by day at night

[venomnom]

[Sometime in the night, Reiju returns to the hotel from outside. She pauses upon glimpsing Amelia, then approaches with a genial smile—as friendly as distant acquaintances can be, anyhow—giving the mug an amused glance as she does.]

Is this for that book club?

[recluserose]

Mm? [Amelia tilts her head and processes the voice and tries to match it up with a face all the while typing and not taking her eyes off of her screen.]

Oh, Reiju. Good evening. No this isn't book club preparations although I was planning to cap off the night with that.

[Clickey-clackety!]

This is school work.

[venomnom]

Good evening.

[The focus is admirable. Reiju knows she's interrupting, so she doesn't mind. It's a good opportunity for her own eyes to wander and take in the small details.]

You're a teacher. What do you teach?

[recluserose]

[Amelia has some sense of propriety (she lectures everyone else to have some after all) so she pauses and closes her screen halfway to properly talk to Reiju, eye contact and all.]

I teach language arts to teens between the ages of fifteen and eighteen. We call them high schools or secondary schools. You might have something similar but I don't want to assume.

Basically, it's a lot of book reading, writing, and analysis. It's rather broad but it's a subject they need to pass in order to take on higher learning.

[venomnom]

[Reiju smiles politely at the eye contact before taking an adjacent seat. She can't speak for the education teens receive, but there's probably something similar.]

Those are critical skills to have. Books are one of the backbones of learning, aren't they?

[recluserose]

Of course. If you can read and understand a story, you'll gain the critical skill of making further connections to your own life and values.

[Amelia truly does love her subject. Since Reiju is joining her, she points at her binder.]

Some of my students' papers are in there. I mostly teach honors and advanced classes but the school I'm employed at has been asking me to consider teaching regular level courses. I've been thinking about it but haven't made my decision yet.

I can just ponder it during vacation I guess.

[venomnom]

[One's own life and values . . . if only there's understanding.

She glances down at the binder. Amelia is certainly passionate. How many students does she teach? How many futures will she have a hand in molding?]

What's stopping you?

[recluserose]

Hm. Not much except that I've been teaching at a higher level for several years and am accustomed to it as a result.

[Amelia crosses her arms and leans back in her seat.]

It's a lot of work to adjust and keep track of a new curriculum on top of teaching multiple classes throughout the day.

[venomnom]

[When she puts it that way, it sounds like an exhausting job.]

I see. You must be quite busy between these classes and now the book club. Will you have time to relax and enjoy your stay at this hotel?

[recluserose]

Well, I've slotted book club planning for later next week. I know I don't have to rush it.

[Here look, Amelia's taking out her aesthetic 🌟Teacher Planner🌟 and showing Reiju that she, in fact, spacing out her plans!]

Normally, these slots would be completely filled. I have more time than I've had in the past few months during the school year.

[venomnom]

[Reiju leans forward for a better look. It'd be rude not to, and she is curious to know what the itinerary of a teacher looks like.]

It does look that way. Is that a good thing?

[Is Amelia a busybody, or are these gaps a welcome respite?]

[recluserose]

I would assume so. Most people raise a brow or two when they see how much is written in my planners on a normal day-to-day.

[But her new day-to-day will be different. Right now, she's figuring out her routine in the hotel.

And you can bet that Amelia will be putting her new routine down in her planner! ]

[venomnom]

[She's so valid.]

You don't seem to mind it.

[Well, Reiju has no concrete proof, but Amelia seems willing to take on more. Everything's been about adding, not retracting. It says a lot about the type of person Amelia is.]

[recluserose]

Well... I don't like being too idle or distracted. I'm just figuring things out and that in itself is... Fun?

[Yes.]

[venomnom]

[Yes.

She thinks she can see the appeal. Maybe.]

I'm sure the concierge would be glad to hear it.

[recluserose]

I'm finding that working in the evening is relaxing, strangely enough.

[She makes a sweeping gesture around the mostly vacant lobby that has some employees milling about.]

It's quiet but the staff is available should I need anything. That's something I wouldn't have if I wasn't on vacation.

[Except maybe when she borrows her friend's golem. They do stuff for her.]

[venomnom]

[It's much noisier in the day, and the help are less occupied in the evening. In those respects, Reiju can understand from where Amelia is coming.]

It's certainly convenient to have an attendant or two at all hours. Are teachers expected to shoulder their tasks alone?

[recluserose]

Throughout the year there are ways that I acquire assistance. Some students need more support than others and I can't give them all my attention when I teach up to four classes a day.

Every teacher has their own responsibilities and I'm just one of the many at the school I work at. And as much as I love my subject, I give credit to my other coworkers who are just as passionate about theirs.

[venomnom]

[Passionate. Yes, Amelia is a very passionate person. It seems like everyone in her type of profession is.]

Then what happens to the students who fall behind?

[recluserose]

[She had to gradually grow into it and Amelia would attribute most of her growth to the people who helped her in the journey to become a teacher. But that's a story for another day.]

For students who fall behind, I give them opportunities to make up the work or turn in work for less credit. Chances are, if they're failing in my class, they're doing poorly in several others and that's when other interventions come in.

It's a lot of school jargon and minutia which I can cover for another time. Personal circumstances vary from student to student so there's no one-size-fits-all solution for those who are struggling.

[venomnom]

[That sounds like a lot of work for the stragglers. It's an almost alien concept . . . but not a terrible one.]

That's a holistic way to look at it. Your students are lucky.

[recluserose]

Believe it or not, it's taken a long while for holistic teaching methods, much less culturally responsive teaching methods to really take shape. It's also a continuous process.

[It's never going to be perfect but it's hopefully going to be better.

Reiju's compliment almost makes her quirk her lips.]

Well, if you ask my students some of them seethe through their teeth at the concept of being made to read a book.

[venomnom]

[She believes it, if only because she lacks a proper frame of reference on which to base her standards. Amelia's is also the expert opinion between the two of them.]

Would they rather be outside, swinging swords?

[recluserose]

Er. Well, swords aren't really an option in my world. In fact, most civilians aren't allowed to carry weapons except for certain firearms.

[Reiju, what kind of world are you from to suggest that?? It just occurred to Amelia to even wonder that just now.]

[venomnom]

[Guns over swords? They're both deadly. What an arbitrary decision.]

I don't suppose they'd go to the shooting range.