Norah Ess

When substitute teacher Shaneen Wynelle is suddenly offered a full-time teaching position for the balance of the school year, she can't help but wonder. However, upon meeting her class of 'incorrigibles' she quickly realizes that she has been thrown to the wolves in the form of a gaggle of unruly and mutinous students. Instead of the three R's as she knows them: reading, writing and arithmetic, Ms. Wynelle is faced with rebellious, rowdy and rambunctious teenagers. As Ms. Wynelle struggles to calm the chaos in her classroom, she gradually discovers her students are actively curious and want to know more about life than what they find in the pages of their textbooks. Her challenge is to meet the school board teaching objectives while giving her challenging charges outlets for their curiosity about everything from religion, spirituality, sexuality, bullying and money matters to Canadian Indigenous history and the hereafter. After two tumultuous terms with her class, Ms. Wynelle realizes the three R's have morphed once more to represent remarkable, refreshing and realistic.