Teach Me Something Please (Open)

[bedivere]

Bedivere's last class had left, thoroughly bemused as to what they'd actually meant to be learning for the day, but at least he had remembered - somewhere between his lengthy diatribe about the latest theory of evolution and the bell going off - to give them an actual homework assignment, and one that actually had something to do with the correct subject, so all in all he rather considered the lesson to be something of a success.

It wasn't that Bedivere was a bad teacher, he was a very good teacher, but he wanted to share his fascination about so many subjects that he very often got sidetracked from the one he was supposed to be focusing on. He would, at least, make sure his students learnt what they needed to know eventually, and they would learn plenty more interesting tidbits along the way.

Once the class had left, he was just about to check his schedule when his latest book, left open on his desk, caught his eye, and he found himself continuing to read quite by accident, eventually sinking down into the chair and becoming utterly absorbed.
Whether he had another class there, in another room, or was supposed to be in his office, it would remain a complete mystery until something came to interrupt him from his latest quest for knowledge.

[Deleted]

Helena started at the piece of paper in her hands for a long time. It was her class schedule, and she didn't know where any of these places were, much less what they were. She ignored the what for now, and focused on the where. She had walked around quite aimlessly for a long time, thankfully she'd gotten up with plenty of time to search for them. After a good couple of hours for looking, she finally found the Draper building.

Next the much easier part, finding the room number. After wandering the first floor for a bit she realized all the rooms started with their floor number. (It was a new concept though, for her, buildings having more than one floor to begin with). So she finally found her way to room 301 and when she walked in she saw no one but a man sitting at a desk, reading. She quietly sat at one of the many empty desks, sitting on the front row, hoping he might notice her without her having to interrupt him.

[bedivere]

It was a good five minutes before Bedivere absent mindedly glanced up, and for a second he glanced back down to his book before doing a double take and realising there was somebody sitting there.
He looked around as if trying to work out what she was doing there, until his brain caught up with him and he realised this was a classroom.

"Ah, Good-" he glanced at his watch "Morning, young lady." Momentarily he seemed at a loss for how to continue, until he firmly closed his book to remove temptation, and actually looked at his schedule to make sure he was supposed to be here.

"Right then!" He said cheerfully, finally back in the real world and ready to go "I do apologise for that, it was a terribly interesting book I was reading."

[Deleted]

Helena sat quite awkwardly for those 5 minutes. She wasn't sure, well, for one, why no one else was here. She was almost certain that with as many kids as she had already seen, that there was no possible way for it to all be one on one. Perhaps the other students were running late. She figured that was as good as any other explanation she'd come up with, and it probably was the one that would make the most sense.

She quietly looked out the window until she was noticed. Whatever that book was he was clearly enjoying it, or else he would have noticed her when she walked in. There wasn't much of interest going on outside, but, it was better than staring at the blank blackboard behind the man. That was boring, and outside was always changing.

She looked forward when he realized she was here. "Good morning to you too." She looked curiously at his book. She couldn't help but wonder...."If you don't mind my asking, what is that book you were reading?" Seemed like a good question, if he liked it so much.

[bedivere]

Bedivere beamed at her, he absolutely loved it when his students showed an interest - although unlike most teachers, he was happy when his students showed an interest in anything, not just what he was actually supposed to be teaching.

"Well thank you for asking," He said cheerfully "It's an absolutely fascinating collection of essays from members of the flat Earth society, discussing the scientific evidence for their beliefs, it's really quite gripping stuff."
He wasn't being sarcastic, either, he really found it all that interesting.

"What are your thoughts on the subject?" He asked after a moment. Sure he was probably supposed to be asking about English, or where the rest of his class might have got to, but they were only a little late so far and he liked to see a thought through to the end.

[Deleted]

Helena sat up when he began to go on. If what she had heard about lessons, and those were only guesses from other girls who also hadn't had them, she was sure there was supposed to be some sort of a point or a theme. She figured it would all come together eventually.

That was when he asked her what she thought about the world being flat. Well, she wasn't expecting this. She pondered it for a minute. What would be the proof that the world was flat? She got an idea, and let her writing utensil fall to floor and watched as it went and rolled across the floor. "It seems, maybe, that if the world were round, the object would go in more of a rounded shape thing, instead of going in a flat path."

[bedivere]

Bedivere nodded encouragingly, beaming at her for this display of investigative ingenuity.
"Yes, indeed, very cleverly demonstrated," he complimented "And of course when one looks into the distance the world seems quite obviously -" he stopped, staring at her for a moment "What do you mean if the world were round? What a fascinating idea..."

Bedivere had gone from a land where the nature of the world wasn't really a pressing issue so much as the nature of the country around them and who owned it, to this place with all its science and theories, so he was sort of accelerating through the years of scientific understanding mostly chronologically, rather than arriving and learning the current thinking all in one go.

[Deleted]

Helena shrugged. "Well, if it were to be not flat, perhaps the only other option would be round, wouldn't it?" She was actually enjoying this, for a surprise to herself. She was now left wondering if all of her classes would be this exciting. After all, she was testing things she'd never even thought of back home.

"But yes, when you look outside, everything within view is flat, which would seem to support the idea of earth being flat." She was enjoying this, and she wished she had gotten to think like this back home.

[bedivere]

"Round? You think so?" Bedivere was absolutely fascinated. Never having thought about it before, his first foray into the study of the earth's shape had been an intriguing theory quite unlike any he'd read since. "I once read a compelling argument that the world is, in fact, banana shaped."
After reading that one he'd had to look up what a banana actually was.

"Of course, now I'm starting to think that is perhaps poppycock. The idea that it is flat does seem to be the most logical, as you say."
Surely if the world were round, things would fall off the bottom? (He'd yet to get round to the science of gravity. There really is a lot of science to cover, and when one is an English teacher, one doesn't always get the chance.)