Adventures with Mr. Moor

I have noticed that two students from 8th period already blogged about our delightful substitute on Friday, so I decided to follow their example and share 6th period's experience with Mr. Moor. I initially felt a twinge of disappointment when I saw that gangly, oddly proportioned man standing in the room space normally occupied by Ms. Serensky, since I thought his presence assuredly meant we would have to struggle a grueling AP poetry analysis for the class period. My unhappiness quickly turned to joy when he informed us that class was to continue as normal and he passed out the worksheet. Unfortunately, my joy was quickly replaced by an eerie feeling of discomfort as Mr. Moor continued to talk, questioning students about the book and the definitions of literary devices. It was clear that Mr. Moor had no place in an AP English 12 classroom, but just as disturbing it seemed that he was completely unaware of this fact. Just as oblivious to the plot of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest as he was to the difference between verbal and situational irony, Mr. Moor's questions included such gems as "So this Nurse Ratched...she seems pretty nasty, right?" and "What are some of the..you know... themes of this book?" I feel like he was particularly proud of that last question, but unfortunately he was quickly shot down by the reply, "We don't talk about themes." and the conversation continued as we went around the circle discussing the implications of Cheswick's drowning. Perhaps the most infuriating aspect of Mr. Moor's demeanor was his constant need to be the center of the conversation. After anyone spoke, he would jump in with his soon-to-be-dreaded "Okay, okay" and then attempt to comment intelligently on their points (which proved quite troublesome since, as he admitted, he had never read the book). We tried in vain to keep the conversation centered around the topic at hand, but inevitably we became distracted by Mr. Moor's useless prattle, to the point where all we could really do was sit around looking incredulous. Ms. Serensky, we missed you dearly on Friday. Please don't leave us alone with Mr. Moor again.

Not Mr. Moor