The Valentine Frenzy

Chapter 11

A hot ball of adrenaline welled up in my belly this morning, being the first day I would step into the class to teach the students. I hadn't been in a classroom since I left the university. So, I was eager to lay my hand on a chalk again.

Earlier in the morning, my throat was sore – an occurrence that showed that the weather was affecting me. But by sheer willpower, I kicked it aside and my normal voice came back to life.

I got into the class wearing a smile and the students caught on with it right away. The glee on their faces showed their zeal to learn from the new tutor who'd stirred them up the previous day.

"Mister Jack is here!" they whispered.

I wanted to give them the impression that gears had changed. Maths classes, as they knew it, would take a different turn. What came to mind was to give them a quick assessment test. Doing so would help gauge their keenness on the subject, and it will dictate the pace of the lessons to come.

"Bring out your pen and paper. You have two minutes to prepare for a short test."

They gasped in surprise and took a second but curious look at me. Some laughed it off thinking it was a joke. Writing unplanned tests felt like a new experience to them.

Not even my straight-face or glowered looks convinced them. But when I dangled the questions sheets for all to see, they scampered for their writing materials.

Right away, I distributed the papers which had twenty-five questions selected from different subject areas. The test wouldn't count as part of their school assessment, though, and I might not even mark the scripts.

"You have thirty minutes to submit your papers and your time starts now."

While they tackled the questions, I moved around observing each of them closely. The smart ones got busy solving the questions. The lazybones fiddled with their pens, and the daring ones couldn't stay quiet.

"Sir, are these grade-twelve questions or you brought them from the university?" One boy voiced out his concern.

"Grade-twelve, of course," I said, smiling at him.

Another naughty boy started grumbling. "We are not used to tests on Tuesdays."

"Fine. Get used to that from now on."

But the complaints didn't stop until they got ridiculous.

"The size of the paper is smaller than the ones from other teachers."; "Can we solve them with pencils instead of pens?"; "Sir, your height is blocking the chalkboard."; "The diagrams are too big."; "I'm allergic to Maths."

Knowing that the complaints bordered on the difficulty solving the problems, I didn't entertain such frivolous remarks.

Thirty minutes later, I gathered the papers and went through them cursorily, observing their woeful performances. Only two of them attempted all questions, and their approaches to the questions left a sour taste in the mouth.

The disappointment that descended on my face got them puzzled. They observed that the cordiality I'd showed the previous day wasn't the same as the disciplinarian stance I exhibited after going through the papers. I gave them my verdict immediately: "You have all let me down. I'm not impressed."

Hands went up for comments, but many yelled: "Why have we let you down?"

"When I gave you the questions, I thought you would attempt them without complaints. But many of you came up with unexpected excuses. Then after going through your papers, I was surprised with the things you wrote. For example, question four says you must remove the bracket from an algebraic expression. Some of you rubbed off the parenthesis from the paper. How so? Is there something you want to tell me?"