The Hectic day-1

It all began with a tremble...

It was 1:40 in the afternoon; Friday. A day on which a teacher's energy level is already on the sump. 

I was in the staff room, sorting out the then collected grade-11 term-2 answer scripts. I counted, it came somewhere near hundred. It was a long day. I had already been exhausted with back to back classes and invigilation duties. 

"These papers are not so much in count. We can easily correct them, fifteen papers per day; will take around 5-6 days", convinced my optimistic mind. "These many papers? Correction within 5-6 days? It's a humanly impossible task!, protested my dominant  pessimistic mind— When to prepare for the classes? When to prepare study materials? When to do this? When to do that?.....", the list went on and on... It's always difficult to settle between these two.

The staffroom was empty except for some two to three teachers— one was typing something frantically in her laptop and other two were skimming through their text books and mobile phones simultaneously, preparing for the upcoming classes.

Suddenly the bell went. Let it be a hectic day or a leisurely day, the bell knows nothing. It just shrills on time. 

Through the huge mounds of uncorrected answer scripts, I saw the clock. It showed 2:00 Oh my God! I forgot it entirely. It was 6th period for 8E, I had been substituted instead of their English teacher as she was on leave.

I had already prepared for the class. It was a prose piece (Short story by Anton Chekhov) which I had to teach. Teaching a prose is a piece of cake but that day it seemed to be a herculean task. Because I was to deal with children. Comparatively younger, more enthusiastic, more boisterous kids. 

I had already rehearsed the narration adequate times— where to rush, where to drag, where to stop & question and how to end the narration. It was a master plan. I had never done this before even for the upper grade students. Still I couldn't feel confident.

My mind kept questioning what if they didn't listen to me? What if they angered me? Can they understand my narration? Can they visualize the scene and relate to the plot? Will I be able to engage them throughout the two periods? What if they didn't respond to my questions?

But no more time to ponder or deliberate. I Stood up, clutched the borrowed textbook and a piece of chalk. Leaving everything behind, rushed to the class, fingers crossed!

(To be continued...)