Mr. Mclean

Middle school … a whole new world with a whole bunch of new teachers. My home room teacher was a man named Mr. Mclean.

He is a stout, chubby, man with a hunched back from constantly scribbling notes on projects and homework, also from sitting in front of a computer screen for more than half a day. Recently, he cut his hair into a short buzz cut, similar to a military hairstyle. On top of his nose lies a pair of glasses which he takes off frequently to rub his eyes and/or face.

He has a messy cursive writing with a few deranged letters or maybe just a line substituting a letter or two. He often adds an extra ‘i’ or forgets to cross his t’s by mistake, his words small and hard to read. No one in his class minds because he doesn’t use his chalkboard frequently. Most of his assignments are typed up and projected onto a SMART board for everyone to copy down. The more writing he can avoid, the better. Throughout presentations, normally, teachers have paper and pen in hand, ready to jot down any comments. With Mr. Mclean, it is only his keyboard and monitor nearby. He used to have a desk and a computer desk, but after a while, he only used the computer desk. During class, the silence of pencils flying across paper is joined by the sound of punching in letters and some clicking of his mouse.

One thing in common with plenty of other teachers is that he loves coffee. Black coffee seems to be his favourite, for in his blue mug is usually drowned in a dark black substance. He carries his mug with him around the whole school sipping it once or twice. None of his classes starts without taking a few sips from his mug that seems to be filled with endless coffee.

During class, he talks so that the classes down the hall are able to hear his lecture word by word, even with his door shut. After he stops talking, his words seem to linger in the air and bounce across the room. That is his way of getting a message to sink in, burning his words into people’s mind. He thinks that many topics are obvious so when he is asked a question, his answers always come out sarcastic and exasperated.

Surprisingly, even after 4 months of being in his class, everyone’s hearing is perfectly fine. He loves efficiency and hates slow progress and everyone is constantly wondering – what will he teach us next?