St. Augustine Middle School

St. Augustine Middle School was a medium-sized, entertaining, and rather disobedient school. Most of the students there had come from rich families in Province, Glacier County, Alaska, and were known for being some of the richest people around. St. Augustine Middle School was surrounded by mountains so it was like an enclave of activity. The school’s front doors were large, black, and doubled. It was a school well-known for its academics. The subject it was most famous for was chemistry because the kids there excelled at it and the teachers there loved teaching it. Chemistry was St. Augustine’s best and most admired subject and was scrutinized heavily so that the teachers met rigorous and high standards of teaching. St. Augustine was a public middle school that had numerous labs, a large supply of high-quality chemicals, and a well-funded and coached chemistry team. Chemistry was like football and cheerleading were to many other schools. It took its chemistry program seriously.

There was one teacher named Mr. Zell who was known for being rather quirky, energetic, and patient. He taught the students in a way so that they could understand what was being taught quickly, entertainingly, effectively, and beautifully. Mr. Zell had a master’s degree in chemistry from the Academy of Science in Glacier County. He worked very hard for his degree and combined passion, talent, and hard work to become the best teacher at St. Augustine. He loved being able to feel, smell, look at, and listen to chemicals sparkling in the air. Mr. Zell was well-known for being kind, understanding, patient, humble, and forgiving with his students. Although he knew that many of them didn’t share his passion for chemistry, he at least wanted to instill in them a love of the practicality and usefulness of having a deep and throrough understanding of chemistry. Mr. Zell often likened himself to a magician, who would use chemicals instead of potions, processes instead of spells, and equipment instead of wands and other magical devices. Mr. Zell combined hard work, passion, and talent for chemistry into teaching classes of twenty-five each and being able to elucidate chemistry in such a way that students understood it quickly, and could understand the fundamentals of chemistry.  Mr. Zell was a chemistry teacher who loved educating students on chemistry and making them learn it and love it, too. 

Mr. Zell had just woken up and was still groggy from a heavy, long, and deep sleep. He got up from bed and decided to walk to the kitchen, prepare a delicious meal of toast and jam, and get a jug of orange juice from his expensive, steel refrigerator. He loved his morning routine because it was like a two-hour long massage. He ate and then took a long and relaxing shower and then felt so good about himself. After taking the shower, Mr. Zell felt incredibly good and began brushing his teeth, washing his face, and cleaning and making up the room. Mr. Zell was so happy to be able to have such a long, fun, and relaxing breakfast routine. It made him very prepared for the rambunctious and disorderly nature of school. Mr. Zell thought waking up from a deep and comfortable sleep was hard enough, but teaching chemistry was even more challenging. Mr. Zell felt so good after his shower and so he put on his work clothes, headed outside his home, and drove to school. The drive to school was bumpy, filled with angry drivers, and soothing in a strange way. Once he got to school, he felt so good that he made it safely and went to the front doors and entered.

On his left, there were many students huddled together around a single student, who had a cellphone with a video playing on it. Interested, Mr. Zell went to the students’ “meeting” and watched the video, too. It was nothing but a bunch of people engaging in a hot dog eating contest, so Mr. Zell left and went to the third floor where his class was held. Mr. Zell thought working was tough, sometimes painful, but overall very rewarding. He admired his students’ ability to concentrate very hard on something and also learn without complaints.  Mr. Zell was a strict teacher when it came to grading, so students really had to know there stuff in order to make an A. Students found his lectures and quizzes challenging but also interesting because he could make the questions very creative. Mr. Zell was well-liked by students for his kind heart, beautiful and strong mind, and zany teaching style. Mr. Zell was admired throughout St. Augustine Middle School because he could make a concept like stoichiometry and make it simple enough to the point where a child could understand it. His seventh grade classes of chemistry found Mr. Zell interesting, funny, and cool, but also very strict and difficult when it came to testing and quizzes. Mr. Zell was admirable for his tenacity, love of teaching, and knowledge. He had many good qualities of being a teacher, and few, if any bad ones. He loved to teach and it made him feel like he was doing something good for the community.

The school bell rang and Mr. Zell was at the front of his classroom waiting to teach and waiting for his whole first period class to arrive. It became seven-thirty and Mr. Zell told his class to look at the whiteboard. The whiteboard in the front of the class said, “Hydrogen and Oxygen: An Inseparable Pair.” The students were stunned by the diagrams, labels, and sheer load of information that was on the wall. Hydrogen bonding it said on the front board was a strong intermolecular bond between hydrogen and oxygen. These bonds often made things more viscous and made water a very good solvent. Mr. Zell lectured for nearly an hour until first period was over. Six more classes of chemistry came through and were amazed by Mr. Zell’s fun, engaging, and novel teaching style. He could make anything interesting, intriguing, and amazing. The students liked Mr. Zell’s humor and effortless teaching ability, and were amazed by his perfect PowerPoints. As seventh period was leaving, one student, Will Walton, came up to Mr. Zell and asked him whether he could have additional help after school. Mr. Zell was tired because it was the end of the day but said, “Sure”. Will Walton left class and headed home where he felt happy about his teacher’s response.

Mr. Zell went home and felt exhausted from a day’s worth of teaching. He thought it was very tiring having to teach, yet was happy to make a difference in people’s lives. Mr. Zell thought teaching chemistry was fun, but also difficult. He tried to make it where students would understand how to balance chemical equations just as easily as they could tie their shoes. Mr. Zell plopped onto the sofa and read the paper, which told everything about Glacier County’s seventy-five thousand inhabitants. Glacier County was located in the northwestern part of Alaska and had numerous mountains of interest. It was cold, remote, and somewhat a scary place to live in if you didn’t like the wilderness. Mr. Zell found his bungalow on 1990 Blueberry Street to be beautiful, sturdy, unique in appearance, and comfortable. He liked being at home because it was so comfy. His house was near the supermarket which was a convenience he took advantage of every day. Mr. Zell loved his home, and he loved Glacier County, Alaska. He had so much fun being himself and living a comfortable, safe, and beautiful life. Glacier County was known for deer, snow, and its remoteness from any other city. Mr. Zell was happy to be alive, but also knew the tragedies that happened in Glacier County. He admired its resilience and strength. Glacier County was a great place to live in. Its schools were top-notch and were of high quality. Mr. Zell loved being home and being happy. He just needed a good balance between being St. Augustine’s most admired chemistry teacher, to being himself, someone who loved to relax.