…

[Maureen] offered to drive me to the clinical [my first teaching experience]. Marv got the kids off to school, and I became Maureen’s student in the car. She taught me how to bluff, an invaluable skill for any teacher. “You bluff it, Lois, you simply bluff it. Think of it. You know more than the students. They don’t know you don’t know—unless you tell them. Act like you’re an experienced teacher; they’ll never know the difference.”

So bluff I did. On the first day of clinical, I had to give a tour of the building. Not having any idea what was in such a building—I’d never been in a state psychiatric facility—I was relieved to see signs projecting from the wall over each doorway. Leading my group of twelve students, I announced each sign: “This is music therapy. Patients come here to experience music as a treatment,” “This is Art Therapy. Patients come here to express their feelings through art,” and “This is the library. Patients can come here and read.”

I was off to a brilliant start.

…