The Outgoing Substitute
Going through school, students were always excited to see a substitute teacher enter into their classroom because it meant for an easy day. The students in Charles Baxter’s “Gryphon” probably did feel the same way when Miss Ferenczi, their substitute teacher, would walk into the classroom. Miss Ferenczi is no ordinary substitute teacher because she had the students draw their own conclusions but in an unusual way. She taught the students in a way that made them use their imagination and question what she was teaching them. Miss Ferenczi was a younger woman with a joyful personality that had a mission to open the minds of the students who attended Five Oaks Elementary and create an experience that they would not usually receive with any other normal substitute teacher.
The students at Five Oaks Elementary were aware and ready to do the same day to day routine, when it came to their school work. They knew what to expect each day when they entered into the classroom, until Miss Ferenczi came along. Miss Ferenczi made quite the first impression to the students with her purple purse and her checkerboard lunchbox. There was something different about her and the students could tell as soon as she walked in the door. She walks to the blackboard, picking up pieces of white and green chalk, and draws a large tree and states how the classroom needed a tree. It grabs the students’ attention and has them wondering who this substitute is. Miss Ferenczi then goes into talking about her parents and telling the students how her mother is a famous pianist who succeeded her first concert in London for what she called “crowned heads”, which of course makes the classroom atmosphere very strange. Even though she knew that none of the students would believe her stories she told them anyways to give the students an escape from reality and to allow them to use