Ya’d think that since I’m a teacher and get up in front of groups of people, like, DAILY, I might actually be comfortable with leading presentations to small groups of teachers who teach the same subject I do.

Aaaah, no.

Nope.

Yeah, I’m perfectly comfy escorting a group of fifteen teenagers around a college campus during its homecoming week. I even was calm about the flabby white guy wearing nothing but a red loin cloth standing in the middle of the gathering area outside the student union. I mean, come on–he was just handing out candy and a little eyeful in exchange for some name recognition on the homecoming court ballot. In a short year or two, these kids are going to see a lot more when they actually go to college, you know?

I did miss the guy who was usually there handing out Bibles and shouting about the imminent end of times. Loin cloth man must have offended his sensibilities.

Let’s fill you in a little in why I’m talking about roaming preachers, scantily-clad college men and stage fright: I was escorting my newspaper and yearbook staffs to the annual fall journalism conference at my alma mater.

Usually, aside from my fear that the school bus driver will leave without me or never show up (from experience, I’ve learned these are totally warranted fears, by the way) and general dislike of having my schedule disrupted, this trip is usually nice. We go to classes, see a great keynote, and usually pick up some nice awards for last year’s writing, design and photography.

This year, I led a session for advisers, though. The last time I did this, I spent five or six hours putting together materials and ended up having no one show up. Not that I have much of an ego, but I began to wonder if I smelled or something.

This time, FIVE people showed up. FIVE. Maybe I only smell a little this year.

I did find out some interesting things, though. Like there’s one school whose teacher acts as editor-in-chief of their newspaper. Apparently, the adviser edits the stories, selects the pictures and lays out the pages. I think the student teacher, who seemed to think the system worked quite well, didn’t really realize that it probably wasn’t cool to brag about how many awards they’d won that way.

I’d loved to have told the student teacher that she might want to consider that assigning editor and staff responsibilities through alphabetical order might not be the best way to take advantage of student talent.

But, hey, who am I to say anything? I’m amused by crass vote-grabbing ploys that incorporate partial nakedness.

Tags: bus, field trip, loincloth, presentations, Wordless Wednesday