I hadn’t gone to bed until minute to 12:00 A.M. so I knew I was looking at a rough start. I actually spent the time to catch up on my blog, which I was happy to have been able to complete. My mind was awake but my body was not when I checked the time at 6:00, so I went back to bed until the 7:00 alarm interjected. I was in the half asleep state and I knew it was set to be a late start. There was no spunk and uppity in my movements, more like a dragging slug. I got up and packed my bag then had a shower. I then made my smoothie and had it. Not a word of prayer was whispered, besides greeting God and saying thanks for my smoothie. I did some generic stretches for my legs which had undergone some intense riding the night before. My body was still suffering from exhaustion and there wasn’t much I could do to slow the pace. I left home at just about 8:00 this morning. I was on a much slower pace, but did my best. To be honest, I was looking forward to the end of the day already. As I made my way above the river, towards the bridge that would go over the river, I encountered a lot of cyclists. They were mostly schoolers and also mostly boys. I found myself in this line of bicycles, with about five in front of me and I thought to myself, how cool this is. This is not something that I would ever possibly experience in Jamaica, as we do not have a bicycle as transportation culture. Notwithstanding, like vehicular traffic, bicycle traffic is not welcomed either. But this morning was a little bit congested and so it was very difficult for me to surpass them. And on top of that, I was too tired to exert so much energy.
I got to work at about 8:26 a.m. and made my way to my desk. It was Tuesday and so that meant work at the high school. It also meant it was presentation day, and I was really looking forward to that. I got my work bag from my desk and made my way upstairs long before it was time to start the class at 8:45. It was a beautiful and sunny day and the sun was streaming in through the huge windows in the classroom. I really enjoyed seeing the shadows that were created and the contrast of the light and dark areas, but the heat was a bit too much. I open the windows and pulled the curtains across the huge pains of glass. My students always complained about how hot the room is whenever they come in, because I usually come to the classroom just at 5 minutes or less before the start of the class. This doesn’t give the AC enough time to cool the room. Today however, was more than sufficient time. I hadn’t turned the light on right away and so after I finished writing on the chalkboard, I went to turn the lights on and noticed that the students were all waiting outside. They didn’t know that I had already been in the classroom, much to their surprise. The presentations were impressive for the most part and especially because I had read almost all of them beforehand. I was a little disappointed by the fact that some students had not made the corrections that I had spent my weekend doing on the iPad. There were two students who had forgotten their presentation papers and they did not have pictures of them on their iPads. I didn’t have the time to show my disappointment with that, especially with respect to one of the students who did not tell me at all. But I continue to learn more and more about being in a classroom setting.
I realise children are pretty much the same all around the world, whether they are in elementary school, high school or even university. It is apparent that some students simply tune me out in classes. There’s no way I could have repeated something so many times for students to come today to say they didn’t know it was presentation day. Not only did I say it repeatedly, but I also wrote it on the blackboard because this is more useful for learners of other languages. No sah. A how teachers keep up wid dis? I must say however that I was very proud of the content of most of the students’ presentations today. It demonstrates that they could all do more than they thought. There are still many things to work on in the presentation techniques department, but I’m happy for the work they have put in so far, amidst the schedule changes. I was happy at the end of the final class. There were a lot of students missing from one class in particular, though I’m not sure why. Other classes had one or two students missing and these classes ended up going over by about 3 minutes to ensure all the presentations were done. Today, I made sure to collect the notes that they took on each other’s presentations. I distinctly expressed that the notes should be made in English and of the almost 70 students, one student wrote in Japanese. Unnu tell me now. I must say I really love the improvement and maturity being demonstrated by my students since the start of the April school year.
I ended up being in the classroom until 13:00 because as I was about to leave one teacher came in to greet me and find out how I was doing and how the classes were going. This was typical of him from time to time as his classroom was the very next room. Once he left, I set about packing away my things, but then another teacher came in. This teacher is from the junior high school side and he was planning on using the room for which I had the key, of course. We ended up talking about a lot of things concerning the students and so on. This is what really caused me to leave the classroom so late. As soon as I got downstairs, I photocopied the score sheets and put the originals on the liaison teacher’s desk to be sent to my company. I had to wait quite a while to use the photocopier, because another teacher was printing a lot of things. But once that was out of the way, I gathered my things and left the staff room. I left work at 13:30. Exhausted. Between September and this month, October, I’ve been saying that I’m tired a lot. As I neared my house, I noticed two pigeons missing around in a rice field. I was really tempted to stop the bicycle and take a picture of them, but I resisted so I could retain my energy. The image however was so clear in my mind as I continued home.
The pigeons in the field brought a smile to my face. They stood atop the freshly cut rice field, which already seemed to be drying out, picking at the loose straws that remained. The two pigeons were both facing the sun at an angle, but in a way that caused the sun to highlight a conversation like pose. I wondered what they were saying to each other. I finally got home at almost 14:00, still musing about the pigeons. It was a much slower ride home. Once I got home, I warmed some food and sat down to lunch a few minutes after 14:00. After I finished eating, I was immobilised. I couldn’t move…well, I didn’t want to move, more like it. I was tired. So tired, but thoughts of going to Tachiya supermarket entered my mind. There were dismissed straightway as I assured myself that I could survive with the three huge pineapples I had bought at the supermarket. They were the only fruits I had in the house. I always need fruits to ensure I can make my smoothies and cut back on reaching for unhealthy snacks. I couldn’t stay awake any longer and so I went and took a nap. It was a long nap, but well needed. The pressure had been building up so much in my head that it had started to give me a headache. I slept from 16:30 until 18:30. It really helped me.
When I got up, I returned a missed call and spoke with my friend who had had an infuriating experience at her job. We talked until just near 19:30. While we were talking I did a few things here and there, including peeling one of the pineapples. I didn’t feel much for eating anything else, but I felt for fruits. The pineapple wasn’t quite ready though, so I only had a few pieces. I prepared for my online class which started at 20:00. It was a day of tiredness it seemed, as my student was completely out of it. I could tell almost from the beginning, as he was less responsive and quite disconnected, compared to the first to lessons. There was no point in forcing the structured lesson and so I made the decision to take a break and talked about something more freeform. This really helped my student and they asked about Jamaica. I told them about a few places including the Emancipation Park, the Bob Marley Museum and Dunn’s River falls. I did this while showing them pictures on my computer through my shared screen. I also shared with the student about my camping experience. This allowed the student to search for more vocabulary to ask me more questions in a more natural way and I could see that this helped them a little, even though they were still tired. After all of that, I brought them right back to the structure from the lesson and we were able to create something around an area of interest for them. I found out that they were the designer for a very cool car, the Toyota LQ. My excitement was uncontained and the student absorbed all my energy and praises. I was happy that I could help the student to push a little bit more to complete the one hour and 40 minute lesson.
I ended my night with a freshly made cup of chocolate tea with marshmallows and a snack, while watching videos of the Toyota LQ.
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