My fifth day as a student teacher… I am in a grade 8 metal work class… It was the first time I was in this class and one of the students asked me if I was just helping out for the day. I told him that I am a shop teacher on a two week observation. He looks at me with skepticism and asks “So you are a metal work teacher?” I answer that, yes, I am a qualified metal work teacher. Still unsure, he begins to point at tools around the room asking what they are. “What’s this?” he asks, pointing at a file and I respond calmly that it is in fact, a file. After several minutes of similar questioning he looks at me again, approvingly with skepticism gone,”I’m impressed!”

I passed the test.