First Day Jitters
It was the first day of school. I had the First Day Jitters book read aloud to me by our professor, and was still as nervous as Ms Sarah.
All the advice from the children, fellow teachers, professors, aunts and parents who’d been teachers, friends and family rattling away merrily in my head.
Do I smile? Should I be friendly?
Strict? No nonsense?
If only the children knew! I felt like they were observing and wondering what to make of me.
Trying their luck?
I saw over the next few days how exactly they tried their luck.
“Can I sit there next to Joseph?”
“Why? What happened to your spot?”
Shrug.
“Usually no. But I’ll allow it today.” I said. I was telling the son all the ways in which they were asking me for this and that as I picked him up from his high school, and he drew in his breath sharply.
“Oooh! Rookie mistake Amma!”
I looked over at him puzzled.
“If they are asking you – they k-n-o-w it isn’t allowed! It’s why they aren’t asking the main teacher – because it will be shut down so quickly!” , he said zipping his hands through the air, and I blinked, and then laughed.
“You’re right. So initially, say no to everything?”
“Most things! You want them to like you too. And only for the first few days. After that, they’ll get used to getting directions from you.”, he said sounding sage-like.
It is true. Children are like that, aren’t they? I thought of all the little ways in which they settled in with their new teachers.
- They pushed in their chairs when they got up. Yes.Good Job.
- They did that thing where they lean back on their chairs on two legs.No.We do not that. It is dangerous.
- Thank you for listening.
- People who do not listen are going to miss this.
- Thank you for doing your classroom jobs.
- Why didn’t you do your job?
The human spirit
I also saw plenty of things that warm the human spirit too. The kind of things that I hope we retain as we grow older. For instance, we played a small game to wrap up the day one day. The children partnered up with each other and played. It was a quick paced game based on reflexes and the children were quick to react.
“So how many of you didn’t win a single round?”, asked the teacher, and one of the children raised their hand. “Got to work on your reflexes buddy!” She said good-naturedly and moved on.
I watched the game with interest and smiled at the moans when they lost and the whoops of joy when they won.
At the end of the game, she asked the partners to agree on the winner between them and come for a quick treat of candy. One of the children who sat many desks away from the child who hadn’t won a single round walked around in the mayhem and shared his candy with him. No fanfare – just friendship.
The bond between them was laughter. They were able to see together the same absurdities and incongruities in things. The most trivial and unnoticeable thing to others would tickle them to death.”
R K Narayan – Swami & His Friends
I smiled the whole way home.
