I didn't even have to do anything for my brows to rise to meet the unforseen situation, and it naturally remained raised as I looked at his exiting back for better clarification, which of course I didn't get.
Now there I was, in-between the exiting back of Mr Head teacher and the expectant faces of the kids. I think a rephrase would be better; in-between an exited back of Mr Head teacher — cause it happened quite fast, and he almost left dust in his wake, or better still exit, you know what I mean.
Of course it's not like I could remain stunned longer than necessary, I mean, the kids were really expectant. So I wore a bright smile, and went straight for it.
"Alright, good morning everyone"
"Good morning sir"
"Well, let's continue from that page... So firstly, what do you think is a gender?..."
If you're being handed a gender discrimination topic, might as well start with making em know what was being discriminated, and what better way to indulge young souls than to pull them in with a question demanding they think? And so we started, and good for me, the environment was cool enough for me to remain calm and collected. It didn't have a supervisor to put tension on me and they were kids of the 5th grade, looking all cute and innocent, really wanting to hear what I had to say, and also interested in giving whatever thinking they could come up with. I had to pick up the pace too and it wasn't so bad. We had that lesson that day go smoothly, cause after that lesson, we moved on to the next one and the one after that, till it was time for dismissal, thankfully the materials needed for their classes were available, so knowing what to give em, wasn't a hassle.
After the dismissals, I went to his office— had to understand what was going on, we hadn't had any previous conversations on the matter, I barely knew what was going on, and also, I had no idea the terms of my engagement, so all things put together, I had to have some grounds. Aye?
Seated in the opposite direction he looked at me
"I told you I was going to call, didn't I?" This he said as an answer to my earlier 'perstering' — although I wouldn't call it that since it was a professional strategic balancing to ensure less compromise, definitely.
So I smiled as I nodded, then he asked
"So how was it? How do you find your new class?"
Well obviously anyone here would say it was all fine and all, why on earth would I want to be part of my problem, I was a job seeker, not some activist or seeker of trouble. So of course my smile continued, as I nodded with my response of
"It was fine"
And as expected, he smiled also as he seemed pleased with my response.
Well well, this was all good and all, but more especially, what was my pay going to be? I'm not all about the money, but come on, that don't mean we don't get to talk about it. And as if part of my head process he brouched the topic.
I wish I could say the pay was exciting, but it wasn't and I didn't have much on my bargaining chip to bargain with. So all I could be happy with was the job itself, and a promise for consistent raise in due time. Well at least someone wasn't unemployed anymore, so that was something.
At the left edge of his office was another staff — come to think of it, his office was a corner of the staff room.
"Anything you need just meet him, you can refer to his notes for yours, take him as your big brother hmm, besides the two of you look alike" of course it was a joke, I don't have a generic face, so that was a 'let's be less formal' joke, I'm really not kidding, it was a joke.
Smiling was my specialty so I just did that, and it was over with. Then it occurred to me that I hadn't even showered neither was I dressed for a corporal meeting and yeah I failed to mention, his assistant wasn't having it with my lack of decorum. But what can I say, for some reasons, Mr Head teacher seemed to believe I could offer more than met the eye. So I wasn't going to disappoint.
After our small meeting I got some things down, code of dressing, my own note, a pen — two pens actually, I think, a red and blue— a scheme to work with and a teacher's diary — to note down every lesson for each week. And thus I was ready for this.
Well, someone left there no longer unemployed, would you look at that.
Like anyother person who just landed a job, I was excited, I finally had this down, there was a sense of accomplishment, it wasn't all bread — literally— so it was worth the spark of excitement. And with that my days as an employed classroom teacher began.
Quick one, before we get the idea that this was an all round wonderment, we gotta know, first thing I had to put in place was my lesson note.
The 'my own note' I was given was the same the former classroom teacher of that class was using, she was on the fourth week. I later learnt the space that gave me the slot-in was she having an emergency, reports had it she had to visit the hospital for a couple things and she never got back to work — I never actually asked for the full gist — but I guess, being considered still despite the situation was still a good thing for me, don't you agree?
There were fourteen weeks that made a term, and as a classroom teacher you had to make lesson notes for all of em.
I got the job on the 5th week, of the last term of that session.
After getting the note, I was to continue with the good work, and so I did. I had a lot to cover so I'd stay up all night trying to cover my lesson note, I was able to get to the 6th week on my lesson note, but before you know it, we were already in the same 6th week, and as a teacher you had to be ahead. Everyother person were at least 2 weeks ahead or more, and no matter how many candles I burnt or weekends I used, I just couldn't push too much ahead, only barely making it through the week never ahead, and cause of this, I couldn't submit my lesson note for assessment, and this continued till the 10th week.
15 subjects, with 12 needing notes. Drafting out objectives and lesson highlights, instructional materials, the lesson itself, questions to ascertain, summary, and assignments to give, how on earth were the others so punctual with their notes.
Maybe it came with the job, seemed they really were veterans. Let's not forget the assignments to score, the class works to grade, the role call to call, the notes to give in class, the kids to be taught, the lesson itself to be given, then the comprehending of it by the kids, and the revising for those that it didn't fall right with. For all these teachers to handle all this and still be ahead in their lesson notes was really something that called for respect, not to forget setting of exam questions and test questions, cause that was part of it too... So maximum respect, on the note thing. So I was the problem, I had to do more...or did I?
One day a colleague of mine, was wondering how far I'd gone with my lesson note, and how the work was treating me. Well how else except that I had to keep grinding. Then it caught his eyes — or was it my eyes.
"How many subjects are you making notes for?"
What a dumb question, how many else if not the entire thing? The entire thing of course.
"The 12?"
"Ehn? 12?"
What was with the drama, was the 12 hard to understand? What did he mean by 'Ehn?' did he want me to do the entire 15, was there a way to do that? Why the 'Ehn?'
"You don't write for the 12"
You don't what now?
"You only need to make lesson notes for 5 subjects. The two compulsory ones, and any 3 of your choice"
Bloody horses! Someone shoot me.
