Matt, with his girlfriend -- a poster.

Editor's note: This is the second and final installment of "Head of Class," a two-part, autobiographical series chronicling guest blogger Matt Wood's experiences as a student teacher. The following was edited for grammar, clarity and length to bring the quality of writing up to a high school competency level.

Head of Class, Part 2: The Food Drive for Mr. Wood

One of my classes failed a test I gave them recently. The class average was 55.6%. I admit I made the test too hard and did not cover some subject matter as in depth as I should have, so part of their failure was my fault. Still, my students thought it would be easy and they obviously did not study.

On the day they received their grades back, my master teacher (the real teacher for the class) berated the students and informed them of my financial situation as a student teacher. He was telling them that I am paying $18,000 to teach them, can’t afford to turn my heat on and only spend 16 bucks a week on groceries (These statements are of true, but I chose to make these financial decisions. I’m not destitute, but he certainly painted that picture). When the students were given time to quietly work on homework at the end of class I didn't realize they were text messaging each other and starting a “food drive for Mr. Wood.”

The next day when I arrived, students came to class with frozen dinners and cookies. One girl brought a homemade cheesecake. Several students from the cooking class brought in a huge teriyaki bowl for my lunch. I was quite embarrassed at first and then I thought it was pretty cool that these students were bringing this stuff in. Do I have any shame? Did I return the food? Um… NO. I kept it -- That’s lunch and dinner for the next week!

I did share the cookies and cheesecake with them. Sure, teachers may not be able to afford a car, home, or new shoes, but I would challenge folks to come up with interactions and stories like this. High school students are so funny and unpredictable you never quite know what they are going to do. They keep things fresh and keep me on my toes.

And the food keeps coming… On Wednesday I got about eight cans of chili/beans, four or five cans of soup, a whole box of doughnuts, a few cookies and one frozen dinner. One of my students who forgot to do his homework and is failing my class brought in two cans of beans. Shocking, I know. I now have enough food to eat lunch for the next two weeks or so… though the beans could get rough by about fourth period. (Editor's note: Matt has horrible gas.)