The Gift (Part 1)

A dog, a gift the dog left the school and some 7 and 8 year olds who became very avid security guards. Hmmm...what could this possibly be all about? Well it was an event that I certainly never expected to see as a teacher.

It all happened one morning. I had been a teacher for about ten years but had been teaching at that specific school for less than two. At that point I had been allowed to set up a classroom on the second floor for remedial reading and I was very enthusiastic about the possibilities that that allowed me. However, that morning, the bell rang announcing that religious instruction was about to begin for the entire school.

For those who don't know, religious instruction or R.I. is a period in most government schools where students gather in various classrooms according to their religious persuasion to be instructed in their beliefs. Some of the religious instructors were volunteers who, needless to say, often struggled if their classrooms were crammed with upwards of thirty students varying in age.

Students loved it - "freedom from my classroom!" Teachers loved it - "freedom for me!" Who doesn't need freedom?

Well, upon hearing that bell I followed my students out of my classroom with clear instructions to head straight to their respective rooms, ..."and remember, I'm watching you!" As I stood in the corridor looking over a banister that gave me a clear view of all the classrooms, including the courtyard I closely monitored each of my students as they one-by-one slid into their rooms - a few of them glancing at me regularly: "I wonder if she still looking boy!"

My students were gone and I shifted my focus. Students were running helter-skelter. Some were on a mission to arrive before their sessions began, others were trying to squeeze out as much 'stretch-your-legs' time as possible before the inevitable 'boof' by a wandering teacher but a fair number were just having the time of their lives: "I love school. We does play pitch, cricket and ketch (a.k.a. catch)."

However, before I could even begin to play the usher I heard the frantic cries of enthusiastic students just a few feet away and could see a cluster of students. "Don't come here!" "Go dat way boy!" "Miss say don't come!" My attention was diverted once again. I had no choice but to create some order to this mayhem. Little did I know what I would see.

The Revolving Door

It was a lovely sunny Caribbean afternoon and it was made even lovelier by the mere fact that I had just finished my last Advanced Level examination. I turned to my friend as we were walking out of our all-girls high school and resolutely stated, "this will be the last time that I will ever step foot in a school again...for the rest of my life!" The eighteen year old who said those words certainly meant it.

I was so convinced that I hated the world of school that a couple of months later, when the results of my exams were released I telephoned my mother (who just happened to work across the road from my former high school) and casually asked her to collect my results. "No need to rush of course."

When I left school that sunny afternoon I never imagined that I had actually walked through a revolving door in disguise. Two years later, after secretarial school (yes those schools existed not that long ago!) and a short stint at sporting classic pumps, making coffee for the boss and typing form letters that I could do in my sleep I found myself back. That's right, back to that dreaded place that I swore I would never enter again... "for the rest of my life!" I was trapped by the revolving door and found myself back.

Yes, I was back in school!

This time however I was on the other side of the desk and actually liking it. No, it wasn't the same school. I had morphed from a disgruntled high school graduate into an enthusiastic primary school teacher and my life has never been the same.

It has been this career choice (or was it a career accident?) that has sent me on an interesting journey. A journey that has awakened in me dormant memories of my own school experiences from both England and Trinidad and has enlightened me about the intriguing psyche of human beings. I will endeavour by means of this blog to not only share with you interesting stories of the world of school but also educational theories that I have explored in light of the unique nature of Caribbean classrooms.

However, the first school story that I will share with you will not be my first day as a teacher but an event that happened a few years later and it involves a dog, a present the dog left the school and some 7 and 8 year olds who became very avid security guards. Curious? Tune in next time for the full story. And yes, ALL my stories are true. It's my life - education from my perspective!