Students who have had a substitute teacher for the first semester in their Algebra Ⅱ, STEAM (science, technology, engineering, math), or technology classes: start getting used to Brandon Paradis being back in control of the classroom. Recovering from his leg injury, Paradis is returning stronger than ever to teaching.
On August 14, Paradis mistakenly jumped on a dog toy and snapped both his left tibia and fibula causing two breaks in his leg. Paradis missed all of the first semester due to being on bed rest.
“I couldn’t walk for a very long time,” Paradis said. “The surgeon told me if I put weight on my leg before it was ready, I wouldn’t be able to walk normally again, it was [basically] keeping my leg up, [and hopping] jump if I had to go anywhere.”
Both colleagues and substitute teachers had to fill in while Paradis was gone. Because of the many hats he wears, it was hard to have others fill in.
“It’s difficult because you need to be with the students to see what they’re seeing; see their screens or see their robots. That was kind of impossible,” Paradis said. “I had [Carl] Bowerman covering for me, and they changed around some of my classes to [be virtual], so some of [my] classes went online. Bowerman took some, and [Danielle Rose] took my Advanced Placement computer science class and taught it since I couldn’t be here.”
Danielle Rose subbed for Paradis for four weeks. She worked on lesson plans and helped out the subs for Paradis. Rose partners with Paradis on STEAM, but has different courses than Paradis.
“The subs were great, and once I was able to get stuff to them it was fine,” Rose said. “The hardest part was that I didn’t know any of his courses because we teach stuff that is so different, even though we are in the same department, everything is so different, it was challenging.”
Outside of school, Paradis had anxiety about how his classes were going. He couldn’t communicate with the subs and so he didn’t know what was happening with his students.
“I was worried about if they were learning anything or if they are doing okay, what classes look like, what is happening in the classes, [all of the] unknown,” Paradis said.
Some of Paradis’s classes went into Grad Alliance, which is a program that helps students get credits fixed. Bowerman, who subbed for Paradis, also had a change in his schedule from the shift to the Graduation Alliance program, a student portal website that allows classes to be taken completely online.
“The Grad Alliance classes were a unique situation because normally Grad Alliance is used for credit recovery if a student fails a class,” Bowerman said. “Since they knew they weren’t going to get anyone for a long-term technology substitute, they changed the kids over.”
Along with students being disappointed about their classes being switched to online because of the Grad Alliance program, many students simply wanted Paradis as a teacher. A student of Paradis, senior Sam Pollack, finds Paradis as more of a comfort in the classroom, that’s one of the reasons many students signed up to be in a class with Paradis.
“He brings youth to our school, a little more [so] than other teachers.” Pollack said, “He talks about tech and games with all of the students, so he builds really good connections [us].”
Although the students were disappointed about their schedule change, they were adjustable and understanding. Rose appreciates this because of her stress of the Grad Alliance and handling lesson plans.
“I think that without the students being so flexible, it would’ve been a lot more challenging than what it was,” Rose said. “Everybody was so patient with me and I know they were patient with Paradis. While it was really hard on them, they did a great job.”
When Paradis did finally come back after winter break, it was a relief of joy.
“We are all happy that he is back,” Rose said. “I know that the students are really happy to see him.”
Coming back to school after a whole semester is hard and requires a tremendous amount of effort. However, after only a couple of hours of teaching on his first day back, Paradis felt at home.
“The anxiety up to the Sunday before I came in was huge.” Paradis said, “I had butterflies, I couldn’t sleep, I was nervous, shortly after I started first hour, that all went away, and everything went good again.”
Paradis’ term two return brings a breath of fresh air to both students and his peers. All are excited for a return to normalcy. Paradis is now back, ready to overcome the semester.
