The world on our heads

The penultimate year in my high school was likened to where you tested the depth of a river with a foot to know how prepared for the final lap you needed to be. I was privileged to be in a public school where the number of students in a class was not above thirty. The subjects are often streamlined at this stage of our academic lives and are usually less than ten. One of such subjects was geography, and we were fortunate to have an instructor, Mr. Adegoke, transfer to the school as the subject teacher. I was indifferent about the subject; all I needed was a credit pass, as its relevance to my career was not significant, at least so I thought.

"Even if you are not interested in passing geography, I'm sure by the end of this session, you will have no choice but to make me proud." Mr. Adegoke, the geography instructor, said. A few side giggles and chats here and there. I knew he would need to work hard to achieve his goal, as he mentioned.

Mr. Adegoke made sure we bought a practical map in addition to the geography textbook we had. We thought it was a child's play when he started with us. Our first class was nothing short of humorous, as Mr. Adegoke, having a seemingly conical bald head, readily volunteered himself as a typical mountain top as described in our textbooks. It was fun as he demonstrated different parts of his head as the peaks and lows of mountains. He went the extra mile to fish out some of my colleagues and use their heads to describe different mountain peaks. Sometimes, he arranged us by height to describe hilltops, gulleys, and even plains.

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The subsequent classes became fun for us all. We began to describe one another by different mountain tops, and though the fun was there, our confidence in the subject was one to be reckoned with. Mr. Adegoke was also very approachable, always willing to make us geographers in class. Our first examination soon arrived, and our faith was tested. His questions were the same, but no two individuals got the exact answer, ironically.

He came to the classroom and had a revision with us. The examination required calculations and measurements; some little errors could be exaggerated in the outcome of our calculations. I was a bit relieved, at least yet. I knew I had extra caution to take to be accurate. The final examination soon came, and the wide maps were placed before us. My confidence was heightened knowing I had a good teacher, and the memories of his teaching style using our heads as examples refreshed my mind to pen down my measurements and calculations.

Eventually, when the results were released, geography was one of the three subjects for which I had an A-pass in my external examination. Many of my colleagues had a smooth walkover in geography during the external examination.

A year after I graduated from high school, I found myself teaching geography as a subject when I volunteered to teach students who were preparing for their final examination. I employed a similar teaching method, just like Mr. Adegoke. Although the period I used to teach was brief as a result of an admission I got to college, I was assured the students I taught had enjoyed learning the subject in a relaxed and confident atmosphere.