Susan Stanford

Memoir of a Chihuahua Bat Susan Stanford

Elizabeth Jones, a newly hired Spanish teacher at North Gate High School, finds herself standing in the middle of a cinder block warehouse at her new campus. Formerly an Industrial Arts room with old equipment stored against the walls and rusty nuts and bolts scattered across the floor, Elizabeth is horrified at the thought of this being her new classroom. She is even more horrified to learn that she will be sharing this space with Theater Arts classes and a clinic without a ceiling. Encountering falling flats, puking students, Theater production rehearsals, and without the basic classroom set up like a board and desks, Elizabeth finds herself ready to scream and run!

Principal John James, with his dry humor and sarcastic personality, insists that this is the only option he has for a room. Jean Smith, her witty and entertaining department chair, convinces Elizabeth that they can find a solution to this overwhelming challenge. With the help of their rowdy colleagues and lots of laughter, Jean and Elizabeth are determined to find a solution for this instructional nightmare.

Faced with the decision to quit or step up, Elizabeth decides to embrace this challenge by throwing away the textbook and traditional methods and creating a new interactive approach to teaching. From her cinder block classroom to a cinder block school atop a mountain in Mexico, she retraces her steps on one part of her educational journey that will dramatically transform her teaching style and change her life forever. Join Elizabeth and her sidekick Jean on a roll a coaster ride, as they rock the boat, challenge their administrators, and become the Chihuahua Bats.