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Saturday, November 20, 2010

The black rimmed pair of spectacles

It is funny how random conversations can thaw glaciers of ancient memories. This blog is about a special teacher of mine.

She was my Grade 4 (I was aged 9) class teacher. From the first day I met her, on my first day of school, she wore white. I learnt later that she did this after one of her parents had passed away. In addition to being our class teacher, she was also our Mathematics, Comprehension and Reading teacher. She was strict too. I remember on the very first day of school, she was having a Comprehension class and she asked me what the meaning of "rare" was. I clearly remember, being terrified as I stuttered "means very few, like good people are rare". I can also still remember very vividly certain lessons she taught, it was as if she knew perfectly how to arouse our imagination and get us absorbed into the story. There was one particular story about a quiet teacher (Miss Esta Maude) who led a double life. She was a racer by night and BAHROOOMMM BAHRREEEEEEMMMMM went her bright red racing car as it sped along the streets of her quiet town. My teacher would read to us with so much expression that most kids just stared at her, open-eyed and wide-mouthed with so much interest!

She was a very dedicated and talented teacher. She was petite and thin and wore a pair of thick black rimmed spectacles, which was what triggered me to write this blog. She once asked the class if they saw her spectacles as she searched high and low for it. Everyone giggled. It was on her head the whole time!

With her encouragement and guidance, I quickly transitioned and progressed in her subjects, coming from a school with a different language medium. I fell in love with Mathematics thanks to her. She had very interesting teaching methods. At the start of each Maths lesson, we had to draw a circle on the top right corner of the page with a 25 cent coin with the lesson number and by the end of the day, we had to complete the assignments and get the circle signed by her. At the end of the month she would punish all those who didnt have her signature on those circles so only a few got away. She even rewarded us for good work. Like once she taught us a new game called "French Cricket" and gave her class time for us to play!

Once though, I hit a boy in class with a broomstick. More like poked his stomach really hard. We were playing "catchers", boys versus girls. Anyone caught would be "locked", unable to move till someone "free" would come and "release" them. On this day, all the girls were caught except for me and I was the only one left to free the rest of them. Four boys were after me to catch me and assume victory, but I just could not let them, so I attacked one of them, hoping to scare them off. But he was hurt and my teacher pulled me up and gave a long and embarassing public lecture, which didn't feel so great.

Many many years later, I completed my A/Ls and while I was waiting to hear from my applications to universities, I took up a temporary teaching job at my school. The Principal was happy to recruit cheap labourers and some cash and working experience looked good on our resumes. Win-win. I was asked to take up responsiblity as the substitute Grade 4 class teacher, in place of that same teacher. They told me it was only temporary and to make sure the students didn't miss out on the lessons and were able to write the term-end exams. I agreed. I learnt later that this teacher was battling away with the last stages of breast cancer. She never came back to school. She didn't even want us to go and see her on her last few days. I only heard about her from time to time from another teacher. A few months later, she passed away. But the surprising thing was that I was here, teaching those same lessons she taught me when I was these children's age. I was not even half as good as her, but I gave it my best. Countless times I remembered her as I taught in that class.

The last I saw of her was at our final year awards and induction ceremony for the prefects. When I spoke to her then, I could see she was very proud of all her students. That's the amazing thing about good teachers. They are like the great winds that steer the course of our tiny ships. And even years after they are gone, their greatness is spoken about and in this case, even blogged!

A weekend comes to an end and I have work tomorrow!

2 comments:

  1. Loving this post! (:

    While it is true that teachers can leave such deep impressions on us, it is also true that the teaching profession [particularly, schoolteachers] are not looked upon with a lot of respect in many countries.
    And that's why I'm choosing not to go into teaching as a career.

    -s

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  2. This post stirred up alot of my memories too! Its really sad that great teachers are such a rare species.. but i suppose thats what makes them so great.. their uniqueness :)

    -Ur newest fan ;)

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