By The Numbers

I have a very long ride to school and then back home each day. It probably averages about three hours and that’s a lot of time each day.

Word problem time:
We have 180 days of school, and your teachers have an additional 10 days of professional development. I spend an average of three hours each day in the car driving to McAullife and then back home again. How much time will I spend commuting during the year?

Answer: (180 + 10) * 3 = 570 hours

If I work an eight hour day, that means my 570 hours is the equivalent of 71.25 work days.

Remember, you only go to school 180 days, so that means if you include my commuting time, I’m “going to school” over 71 days more than you. 

Think about how this might play out for a typical McAuliffe student. After school, you’ve taken the bus home, had a snack, walked the dog, and done your homework. I honestly don’t want to hear about the burden of homework I assigned you because I’m still driving home.

When I started teaching at McAuliffe, I promised myself I would not waste all those hours on mind-numbing sports talk or ridiculously repetitive political talk radio. Instead, I listen to books in the car. 

I listen to a lot of books in the car.

Last school year, I listened to 33 audio books. Some of my favorites were:

• On the Road
• The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (You will read this too)
• Failure Is Not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond
• Physics for Rock Stars: Making the Laws of the Universe Work for You
• A Little History of the World
• Zim: A Baseball Life
  
• The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements
• Rendezvous with Rama 
• To Kill a Mockingbird (You will also read this)
• Pedro.

I have to say, I don’t retain the content of a book when I listen to it as well as when I actually read it, but that’s not really an option when you’re speeding along at 65 miles per hour.