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Like most teachers, I don’t actually teach as much as I would like to. In fact the better part of my day is spent on paperwork, filling out student intake forms and setting up tests. My students receive their adult basic education via a computer so I facilitate their learning, tutor and troubleshoot. At any given moment, a student will nod off, seem to be hypnotized, or sit on a problem without asking for help — remember my students are also recovering drug addicts — so it’s my job to get them to notice something new everyday, to spark their imaginations and steer them toward the online encyclopaedia for research and discovery. “Raise your hand if you were born in the 20th century,” I ask. One of my students insists he was born in the 19th century, that’s how he remembers being taught. I take the time to explain historical periods, that we are in the 21st century is a new concept to a few of my students. I throw in that if you go by the Hebrew Calendar we are in the 58th century, in the year 5770. But the earth itself is is around 4.54 billion years old. Then it’s back to adding and subtracting fractions.