Misadventures of a Model Student Part 2

Sorry for the hiatus! Loads of homework, exams, applying for summer jobs, and a month abroad will do that to you! Now... what you've been waiting for... Misadventures of a Model Student!

A Scary Surprise, A Lock-down, and Unexpected Respect


I was so excited to start Grade 4. Students got lockers instead of cubbies, and there was always a huge Grade 4-only party at the end of the school year. My face fell the second I laid eyes on my teacher. In my eyes she was scary. Her eyes seemed to pierce into every student's soul and she seemed easily angered and creepy. I sat down in my desk trying to avoid eye contact. I was so afraid she would shout at me, I was a deer in the headlights. Attendance started. As the names were called I began to tremble.

Ways of answering the tell-tale question of presence filled my mind. Should I say 'I'm here' 'Present', cough and raise my hand like I've lost my voice? Sweat poured down my face. The teacher was almost at my name.

I was alone in the class room. It was only me, the scary teacher, and the mocking attendance sheet. My eyes threatened to water and I gritted my teeth in determination. My name was next.

Her lips moved. I braced myself................................... it wasn't my name. She said it again. It was similar, but most certainly not my name. Then I recognized it. She was calling out the direct translation of my name into Hebrew! Without thinking I raised my hand and informed the teacher of my real name. She apologized and continued. It was a close call.

A couple of months passed by and I was still as afraid of her as ever. She had this method of marking work that involved calling students up individually to her desk to check their work. Being the smart girl I was I did my homework every night, but being the petrified student I was I never handed my work in. The thought of being shot down by that teacher sent chills down my spine. Soon I took to hiding behind pillars in the hallway to stay out of her sight. This went on seamlessly until December. 

Every now and then our school would have lock-down drills. In order to hide ourselves from the imaginary invaders we would hide under desks, in corners and lock the door. The funny thing is that even though these drills occurred every few months and they never were the real deal we always dramatically hit the floor like it was a matter of life or death. 

During this particular lock-down our teacher was printing something out in a different room. When the bell rang we stood on a chair and turned the deadbolt without a thought. 

Soon we heard a banging on the door. In seconds we realized what was happening. We all burst out laughing. When the siren ceased we rushed to the door and found a disgruntled teacher standing there. We braced ourselves for punishment.........she was proud of us for not letting her in. Wow.

Despite several events indicating that she was a nice person I continued to be afraid of her. It was only at the end of the year that I begun to see her fun side. She always wore the most elaborate costumes on holidays and at the end of the year she created an EPIC water fight. 

Now I regret being so quick to judge her. I mean there were instances she got mad (she asked me to glue ping pong balls on my favorite shirt for a play, and then there's the instance where a student threw a textbook to the ground and stormed out of the class...) but she was a fun teacher. Pretty cool, I mean as cool as a teacher can seem to a group of 9 year olds.

Tune in next time for more stories of the past with: The Chronicles of Calgary, Misadventures of a Model Student Part 3!!!  

Misadventures of a Model Student

All my life I have been considered a model student. I've made good grades and I've reached for the stars. Another thing I'm known for is being in a revolutionary class. My school is very small; the junior high has a population of 75. This being so we are used to being grouped together.

Another thing you should know about my school is that it has created a tight community. Almost all the Grade 9 students have been learning here since Nursery. Since we have been so close so long, our grade has a little bit of a history. So here it is: The Chronicles of Calgary, Misadventures of a Model Student, Part I.

 In the beginning the cliques were simple, there were the jocks, the dancers, the brains, the class clowns, and everyone else. Best friends stuck together like glue and no one cared what others thought. These were the golden years. And surprisingly, these years were far from uneventful.

Substitute Teachers, Bullying, Murder, and a Knife
Grade 2 was one of those years where our tight knit group was split in two; 2A and 2B. 2A had a really pleasant teacher, she was perfectly sane and not scary at all. 2B was the opposite. I'm pretty sure that teacher had mental health issues. One day a group of 2Bers was looking for the stapler in this teacher's desk. They pulled out a massive knife. Suddenly, the teacher was there to snatch  the knife away and explain he had confiscated it some 50 years ago. It was hard to look at him the same way.

One day the 2A teacher got sick so the two classes were combined into one. Every now and then the teachers would show us videos and hold discussions with the intent of stopping bullying. Unluckily the day the 2A teacher got sick was the day such a discussion was scheduled to take place. Instead of the usual video and discussion we were told the following story:

Once upon a time there was a boy who was bullied. Everyday as he walked home from school the other boys in his class would taunt him and make fun of him. Sometimes they would beat him up. One day those bullies beat him up especially hard. The boy begged them to stop but they mercilessly continued to beat him to a pulp. He died. The bullies panicked; they didn't want to go to jail. In a flurry they decapitated the boy and threw his body in the river to get rid of the evidence. They were eventually arrested. Their lives were ruined forever.

I know for a fact that the majority of the seven year olds there were scarred by that story for years. Personally, I developed a strong fear of decapitation. A friend of mine had nightmares about the story itself. Even the 2Bers were scarred. The story was more disturbing than the average tale of woe.

The teacher stayed at the school another four years before he left the school. To this day know one knows if it was against his will or not.


Stay Tuned next time for The Chronicles of Calgary, Misadventures of a Model Student Part II!