St. George’s College (Week #51) – Day #234

Date for Entry: (Friday 08 December 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (December 2023)

[T1, W:14 – D:66, (Td:4)*].

Dear Diary,

    I went to school late by choice today. I was so tired. I tried 8 times to get up. Got to school and saw Crystal and Kiel there. I had a score looking for my timesheet. I knew that I did not take it home with me yesterday evening. When I had the idea to look through my manila folders, I found it. I was so relieved. I gave it to Crystal. Deon told me that he was looking out for the reminder in the chat about the timesheet for today.

    I saw “Maria” and Susan coming into the office. They came to school later than me and came to sign. They were telling me that I was quick when I got back in the office because they saw a really big frog in front of the office. Miss Came into the office after them. I got Isekel to email me a list of the Form 3s to 5s for my list of students.

    I went to the staffroom with them and sat back at the desk in the back. Shiva didn’t want me to do work there and “GG” was there too. I felt hurt about it. He came on too strong. Maybe the first week would be good to do the marks entry into my marksheet for the Form 1 practical properly.

    I had to abort ship because his mocking had put me in enough. It meant that I did not go on the teacher’s outing again. I decided to sit on my couch at home and finish my entry for yesterday. Will have to find a new place to do work in my own time next term other than the staffroom. Lord, please find me a safe place that is in that compound.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:20 am – 3:14 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #51) – Day #233

Date for Entry: (Thursday 07 December 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (December 2023)

[T1, W:14 – D:65, (Td:3)*].

** Gifts

Dear Diary,

    Too much rain kept me back this morning. I got to school with heavy bags. “Hanuman-Kumar” was the driver today. As soon as I got signed in, I went to wrap up my gifts immediately. I did not know when the gift exchange in the office would be. I got a bottle of wine for Donna wrapped up. I also labelled the 3 gift bags for “Maria”, Susan and Nicole.

    I was going to write up the mark sheet for the Form 1s and 2s in the staffroom but Miss Mohammed came to let me know that the breakfast was about to start. I gave Miss Patel her copy of the exam papers that I had as gifts for some of the teachers.

    The breakfast was supposed to be 9:30 AM but they decided to have a general assembly first so that kept back. Everyone was gathering in the kitchen and Jeanice was hurrying everyone else to get to the kitchen because she wanted her gift. We had to wait for Crystal and Miss Mohammed who went to look for a knife. I was very excited when they said that there was ham.

    ‘Doctor’ had us sing some “Jingle Bells” and “Silent Night” with strange words we did not know. The gift exchange was done quickly one at a time and then we got into the breakfast because no one got the chance to eat anything. Miss Chote got me and I gave Kiel the gift. Not sure if he had liked it. I loved the ham and the cheese paste. Miss Ali had to leave early. I had a while enjoying the ham. Miss Solomon said that she was the one who made it.

    It took a while for us to finish. I had some sorrel it was a bit too bitter sweat but it was alright. Miss Chote came late and she told me she didn’t know if the shirt was the right size. When I checked the label, it was Large. I told her that I wore XL. She asked me to try it on first because she wanted to leave early. I went into the lab to try it on. They had the old 1F room as the lab. I gave Donna the bottle of wine. She was in the back of the staffroom by the table with Shiva.

    I went back to my desk to see how much I could fill in the information for the Form 1s and 2s. Susan had already gotten her gift from me and I left “Maria” gift on her desk. Although I would have loved to give her it in person. Sometime in between there, Mrs Jaikaran called me to give me something. Back at her desk, it was a beautiful bottle of non-alcoholic pear wine. “Tia” was around and she came to call in the conversation. Can’t remember which question it was that left up to “Of Course, she loves me” as one of my responses.

    It was getting very late to lunchtime. I thought that Nicole was with the children in her Form class. I got a call from Joshua by the door that she had sent to call me for lunch in 2L. One table was for the boys and another set of tables was for the girls by the windows. Gabby came with “Maria” to school too. They had already taken out food for me but I let her and Maria share the rest. I was still full of the office brunch.

    I waited a while with them to serve the ice cream after the children and went to eat some on the way to 2F. I saw Afisha was with them when I got there. I walked around the classroom eating in silence and then spoke with “Miss Malik”. She only asked about how she did for the exam. They said that they were afraid of their mark. In about two minutes their report sheets were about to be distributed by Javid. Two of the girls were upset. I didn’t know when Miss Harris was there until he spoke to her from the teacher’s desk. She left in the rush and I left to go and visit 2M with Mrs Jaikaran. When I asked about the big space, she said that they had cleared a big space of the room for playing musical chairs.

    I was too late to see the Form 1s. I went to see 1F most of them were gone. 1L was in the packing up mode. I didn’t both to stay. I saw that 1M was completely gone except for “Mr Williams” and Susan. They got the classroom cleaned up. She gave me an extra box of food and a sweets box. The children ended up waiting for a lot of drinks and food. I waited to help her and Mr Bain carry things back to Block C.

    I went back to the office and decided to fill out my timesheet early to not worry about having to do it tomorrow. Miss Gittens asked for help by the door when she came to sign out. I went to help them carry the Christmas tree from their Form class. I took it to the car and they forgot to open the car locked for me to put it in the trunk. I had a long wait. This time they parked exactly outside of the ‘music room’.

    I met “Vara” in the corridor on my way to the washroom. She said that she left a gift for me on the desk. I met back with her in the spec room with her brother and Miss Patel helping “Kimmy” clean up. I helped them pack her car and then went off to the staffroom again with my heavy bags.

    Everyone was around the Christmas tree in the staffroom on the couches. I got my brown bag that I had forgotten right there overnight from the marking. I was supposed to carry it home since the office would have been locked by the time of leaving in the evening. “Maria” was making a crochet bookmarker for me. She told me to pick two colours of threads and two beads to stitch them together. I loved it very much.

    While sitting, Waverly said that “Miss Best” mother was querying the comment I made in the report about no projects submitted. I texted her back to send to the mother something short. Mrs Brown thanked me for the exam papers that I sent to her.

    As I continued to write my long and extensive journal entry by hand, there was an outburst by Miss Harris against Javid. All of us were in shock and felt messed up about it. It took the conversation for the rest of the evening and it made everyone leave all of a sudden. We had a lot to pack up in the car. “Maria” had to help me get in to put stuff on top of me too before she could start to drive. Everyone else was squished in the back.

    Since a lot of the things belonged to Miss Gittens, they drove her home first. I got to see where she lived finally. Then I met Dad and Andrew in Curepe. I had Form 2 slips filled out for the year group that night and dinner from a compilation of all the foods that were given to me. I had an early bath and went to work on the mark book for Miss Gittens and stopped after inserting the Form 3s.

    I needed the names of the students in Form 4 and 5. Hopefully, there would be an easy way for it to work by PDF to copy and Paste if I can ask Isekel to email me the list of names in the morning. As I sat on the couch, I felt so tired that night. I went to bed early at 11:00 PM. Didn’t feel good at all. Had to wake up early in the morning around 2 AM.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(8:32 am – 5:28 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #51) – Day #232

Date for Entry: (Wednesday 06 December 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (December 2023)

[T1, W:14 – D:64, (Td:2)*].

**pic of portal

Dear Diary,

    Plenty of heavy rain came down this morning. As soon as I got up late, I saw a message from the principal saying that I could do the data entry for the marks on the School’s online platform once I was willing to do it. I typed back to Miss immediately for her to let them know that I would be willing to enter the children’s music marks.

    It took some time to get to Curepe and run through the rain although Daddy and I had umbrellas. The maxi driver had filled up the air-condition with cigarettes. Had to shake out my umbrella well before entering the maxi. Didn’t want it to wet up the floor too much. As soon as I got into the office, I saw Miss Patel finishing a conversation with Dr Blandin and right then she said that she got the approval for me to enter the marks.

    She went back in and I went to sign. Nice surprise to see Miss Sawh was using my desk to mark her lab books. Miss Patel met me by the desk and said that she was going to give me Miss Paul’s information but felt back to do so. The information was sent to Miss Gittens first. I thanked her for the assistance over the evening and the morning.

    I got some prints of my mark book for 1F but it did not come out so well. I turned back on the laptop and then I got it converted into a PDF. I gave Miss Mohammed the flash drive to print the document. I thought that it would have been legal-sized paper but it was letter-sized. I also had to ask Miss Ali to plug in the school’s internet password if I was going to take the day to insert marks. I went to Miss to get the information and then went back to the office to get bags.

    I was moving into the staffroom for the day. I met Donna and “Jan” by the table in the back. Donna was marking her Spanish Literature and Janessa was entering marks. I told them that it was my first time entering marks on my own and to wish me luck. I got the link to the St George’s platform. I was asked for the user name and then they had asked me to enter a new password. That was what Miss Patel had informed me at the front desk. She was in the kitchen area and I told her that I got through with the login and that I was ready to go.

    After entering marks for the first class, I got a nice surprise call from Miss Paul at 11:02 AM. She asked me to meet her in the office. She called me for a nice chat while she came to wait to see the principal. I learned that tomorrow will be her 60^th birthday. She said that the day before your 60^th birthday would be the last day of employment. I notified her about my being permitted to use her username and password for the upload of the children’s marks into the school’s online platform.

    We met back a second time before she walked off to her car. She gave me some good advice with the comments and it was helpful for the remainder of the day. There was an invitation she said she would have invited me to a little party that she was having but I told her that transport was the issue. As she turned to walk to her car, I turned back to get to the staffroom. 

    I rejoined Donna and “Jan” at the desk in the back but "Jan" had a doctor['s appointment to leave us. We were joined by Miss Harris for some time. She did compliment me as a "pioneer" when she saw the stuff I had to upload the marks into the online portal. The conversations picked up while I entered. Seemed as though Donna got into the talking and forgot to do her marking at the same time, lol.

    Before I knew it, the time was 3:34 PM. Long after school hours were completed. I called Daddy immediately to let him know that I was coming up to Curepe later than expected. I had to do it before I forgot. As day changed into night, I got all the marks, letters and comments in for my six classes. Sat with “Maria” and Nicole in the staffroom alone.

    Waverley left ‘early’ around 4:30 PM. I helped “Maria” with formulae and interesting numbers in her mark book. We left school in the dark of the night. This was the latest that the three of us ever stayed back in school. “Miss Gloria” had a nice dress on other than the uniform. 

    Rain began to fall as I exited the car. Daddy and I went to do some shopping at Persad’s Supermarket and then went home. I got to show Andrew and Dad how the platform worked and had my fixes in the numbers before calling it a night.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(10:38 am – 6:54 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #51) – Day #231

Date for Entry: (Tuesday 05 December 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (December 2023)

[T1, W:14 – D:63, (Td:1)*].

Dear Diary,

    I came late today. There was a yummy driver today too. There was a long period in the office. I worked on the test papers that I had set aside for the teachers and then I got it delivered to the two staffrooms in my tray. This was the day that an entire 3 quarters and more of the staff teachers stayed home for probably either last-minute or coursework marking, long final papers marking and uploading of marks. The deadline was drawing nearer and everyone felt stressed about it.

    Miss Mustapha and other teachers had to wait to see if they had gotten approval for their beach cleaning field trip and then some teachers had to remain back in school because of the short number of students to supervise the students present on the compound. Not many Deans either were about except Mrs Brown. Dr Blandin had kept back two Form 1 boys that I taught in the office for running and she didn’t take their explanation.

    While I stayed in the office, I had the Form 1 paper completed. It was easier to make than Form 2 in terms of the time required to make it. The practical was not much. I decided to make a spin in the compound with my bookstand and slips. I got one student from 2F and four from 2L to do the test. Kevin and Suvir were busy playing they didn’t do their coursework. The breeze was nice outside by the mini savannah.

    I went back to the staffroom to finalise the marks in my mark book. “Mr Christian” sat with me in the back of the staffroom entering his marks too. Only after school, Shiva came to tell me that two students were looking for me to do their practical assessment. He said, “Uh know, Mr Ali, in this industry 2:30 in home time, yuh know.” I said, “Not for me, honey. That’s for the regular people.” I got my laptop logged off and went outside to meet them.

    They got chairs and sat near the old 1F classroom and I brought my bookstand with the Form 1 slips. A girl came with him to do the practical too. She went first because she had to go quickly. She gave a hard attempt but it was not so good. She left her manuscript with Riley and he did his assessment after. We had a good chat before he left.

    I went to pack my bags and move back to the staffroom where I entered their marks and those last-minute ones from today. I got the marks finalised and praise God Isekel was still there to help me email it off to Miss Roberts. However, she was ‘confused’ and now that took the rest of the evening into a curious situation.

    Had to speak with Mis Patel for assistance and she said she would speak to admin for me. Miss, “Maria” and I were back late in the staffroom. A man needed help making a box bass Miss was entering marks and it was nice that “Maria” was enjoying her first trial of using my mark book. She seemed to have less work to do with it and I was happy that my creation was able to make life easier for another teacher as the ideas were.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(8:30 am – 6:32 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #51) – Day #230

Date for Entry: (Monday 04 December 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (December 2023)

[T1, W:14 – D:61, (Td:6)*].

Dear Diary,

    I got to Valsayn with one Georgian today. I took some papers to grade. I finished one class in the Block K staffroom. My special red pen finished on me when I finished my fourth class. I had to use a spare. A girl from 1M came to meet me at lunchtime to do her assessment. I did not even realise that the time had gone by so far. I learned that some students had leaked a final exam. Not sure how that could have happened. A lot of commotion built over the issue over the period.

    I packed up my papers in my green cloth bag and proceeded to direct the girls to the office. “Mr Marlon” gave me a nice joke before I left. They got a chair while I was getting the assessment slips and my book stand. During their assessment, I began to see more Form 1 students coming down the corridor with their manuscript books and their recorders.

    There were some Form 2s in the mix. Many of them did not show up as suspected. I had a lot of slips used up by the end of the day. One of the player boys’ mother had asked me for a copy of the music to the national anthem on the pan. I had to run back to the office to get the paper. I wrote out my email address and gave it to her. This was later into the seventh period of the day.

    Sometime during the eighth period, another parent was looking at the assessment. She seemed excited and came closer. She wanted to know if the student could play “Mary Had a Little Lamb” for her but I had to let her know that it was a test going on.

    The rest of the evening went by. Riley came and asked if he could do the practical assessment tomorrow. I had messages sent to the call about the final day being today. Not sure if I could hold off until tomorrow. Only time will tell what happens tomorrow.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:58 am – 3:48 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #50) – Day #229

Date for Entry: (Friday 01 December 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (December 2023)

[T1, W:13 – D:61, (Td:5)*].

Dear Diary,

    I came along to Valsayn and signed. It took me forever to finish writing out yesterday’s entry before eating and starting today’s journal entry. I will take the weekend to get over my distress about both my exams being done on the same day.

    I saw Mr Pierre going through Mr Bains’ exam papers. Probably there was a mix-up with the papers. Miss Santana was arguing with Dr Blandin about something at the same time. There was another argument about no one in the office to do printing early in the morning as usual too.

    I continued to work on something else and finished a test in the staffroom. The Form 2 review exam for the term was done by that time. I had started the first question for the Form 1. These exams would be supervised during the first week of the next term. I had some students come to do practical assessments during lunchtime. Had no idea that lunchtime came so quickly.

    All the practical assessments were done from then until directly after school. If there was anyone else coming to do Practical they were given the opportunity once I was still in the office and not left with my bags for the staffroom. “Jay” waited with me the whole evening. He was ashamed to do this conducting everyone all of the passers-by in the corridor.

    Seth came to do practical. I wished I had let him do his before the rest of the Form 1s. His driver came and he had to leave early. He said that he wasn’t gonna come back to school until the new year. He said he might have had to take zero and that would have been the case anyway.

    I saw Kevin after leaving the office too. He said Monday and I hope that Monday comes too. Today I wished I had listened to my idea and sat at my brown table outside. All the children would have seen me outside if they had passed. That office could be a place you don’t wanna be in sometimes.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:50 am – 3:41 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #50) – Day #228

Date for Entry: (Thursday 30 November 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (December 2023)

[T1, W:13 – D:60, (Td:4)*].

Dear Diary,

    I got to Valsayn with one Georgian boy. One driver behind was impatient today. I met a white Christmas tree at the side of my desk. It took me the way all day long. I got signed in and my time sheet was filled out before time. Didn’t know if to go over to 2L or wait by my desk.

    After waiting, Dr Blandin called me into her office and asked if I was willing to supervise the second session today for Food and Nutrition. It would be a two-hour exam starting from 11:00 AM. Since it was Miss Daniels’ exam, I decided to take it since she did a favour for my department during the previous term’s final exam. I began to feel left out because I was beginning to hear that there was going to be a staff meeting during the time of the exam.

    I went over to Block K immediately with my bag and met Miss Jones in the lobby area. She was waiting to see who was coming for supervision. I got the 2L papers from her and got the class to start one time. She said that the exam was to be for an hour and a half and that it was right to end earlier if everyone else was over early. There was a long wait for six people to finish. During that long wait, five students were asked to use the washroom and returned. We heard Miss Jones from 2F behind the wall trying to settle the children during the exam.

    At the end of the exam, at 11:55 PM, I asked the students to put their writing materials back into their pockets and vacate the building with their bags once their paper was taken. I collected papers by the columns. Only Seline remained. Miss Jones saw the class was empty but she jumped seeing Seline remaining to check through her work and went back outside. It reminded me of myself during the ABRSM exams at George’s Form 1 classroom. She only needed three more minutes and then Miss Jones came to collect the papers from me. Seemed as though 2M had already finished theirs.

    During recess, I went to the washroom and got some parts of my desk cleared up. I had already notified Miss Daniels at the doors of Block K this morning that I would do the supervision got the exam. I went to her in the staffroom and she showed me the papers. I took them into my bags after she ran through what was supposed to be done. When it was 10:45, I went to her to let her know that it was time to go over to the classroom. Shwe wrote out the time to start and end on the board and distributed the papers. One student was found cheating.

    A lot of noise occurred outside by Form 1s and 2s. There was a fight I saw too from out the large windows. I saw that the staff meeting was going on still while closing the door properly. The test was over in the last thirty minutes before the full duration. Everyone handed up their papers. The staff meeting was still going on.

    I wanted to go in but “Mr Williams” found me on the side and asked me for the recorder assessment. A lot of Form 1 students were coming in the background. I had him sit by the white bench with my book stand and they waited in the corridor. I saw Miss Harris coming late with the food that she was asking for people to buy the curry.

    The Third session started sometime after. I was finished late and then “Reeba” came to the office. He told me that they were short on my two exam papers. The machine was slow and then they mixed up some of the papers. I had to get it stapled. I gave “Reeba” my stapler when the office stapler crashed on itself and praise God Crystal helped me staple some. My head was all over the place. Miss Harris then asked “Reeba” to give Miss Roberts her box of food.

    As we left the office, he went running and the box fell out of his hands. I went hurrying like Mama doing the corridor. I couldn’t run that quick like him and got to Block K. One of the Form 3 boys that I had a babysitter when Roberts did not come to school said, “Sir, dah tes’ is garbage!” In truth, I did not even get to see what the Form 3 paper looked like. I just hope he studied enough.

    To my horrid surprise, the students in 1F were not there except for the students who were doing the arts. I wondered where they could have been. The door for 1L was closed and Mr Bain was inside. I looked in 1M and it was scary seeing all those children inside. Miss Gittens was marking papers by the teacher’s table. I was giving her the extra papers. She said that she would watch over all of the Form 1s and that I could go and grade papers if I had any to do.

    I went back to the office and sat in the Block K staffroom to do so. “Mr Marlon” came back later and got one class finished while waiting for Miss to finish. Some nice conversations occurred. Everyone filed out of the room at the end of school and Dana came in later. She got her curry. I had to warn her about the break in the box before it fell. Seemed as if Miss had forgotten me after the exam.

    I went back to Block C when my bags were packed and went back to grading papers. She told me that she had to go and make a sign for someone quickly and it did take some time to make. It was nice to be among the teachers in both staffrooms for the day. Donna was there with us late into the evening before she left. She was organising to purchase food from a catering that Susan was buying for her Form class. She offered to buy lunch for me on the day of the class parties but I told her she didn’t have too. She had insisted.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:58 am – 4:59 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #50) – Day #227

Date for Entry: (Wednesday 29 November 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (December 2023)

[T1, W:13 – D:59, (Td:3)*].

**papers

Dear Diary,

    Got to Valsayn with three Georgians and Deon in the same maxi this morning. The driver was “Musician”. I saw “Ravin” waiting but he ended up in front although he was driving the maxi on Lockheart Street. I met Miss on the way to meet her. She had a nice surprise for me.

    I had one exam with 1F (English Literature) this morning too. Maria was their teacher. ‘Doctor’ was in there early with us because of the bleach smell in the classroom. I kept the bag with all the Form 1 projects with me. She was settling them down. Nigel told me that when the exam was over to close the windows and door when I leave.

    I have out the instructions and then shared the papers to begin the exam. Janessa visited us one time at the later part of the test to leave some exam papers. I gave her the 1L papers to deliver for me. The long wait was tiring. I did not have breakfast or use the washroom for a second time. As soon as the exam was over, I got the windows closed up and then went to give 1M their projects before leaving the building. I went to set the papers on Maria’s desk. My small bag from Mr Bacchu was heavy.

    I returned to my desk to have breakfast. I have three more projects sitting on my desk from students in 1F. I didn’t want to take them. I graded the three of them and they will have to get them by lunchtime. Miss and I were both upset. Different things happened to us separately by different people. She had MMT so I could not inform her of what I had to tell her. I went to get my Form 1 and 2 papers out of the storage room during the second session’s exam time.

    During lunchtime, I got “Cody”, “Max” and “Mr Mohan” to do their practical conducting assessment. I got three Form 1s to do theirs also. Janice hurried me to get the papers. I went to my desk and gave her the Form 1. Deon too was supervising a 1F exam. Miss Roberts had already called to ask about her papers. She was in 2L waiting. I wondered what time she got to school this evening. I gave her the papers.

    I got to 2F and waited. I did not know why everyone was not there yet. Miss met me in the corridor outside the classroom as I called her. She too didn’t know where everyone was. I gave her the 2M batch of papers and showed her the attendance sheet and then the invigilator’s instructions guide. She laughed out before walking off to 2M and said, “All this Drama?”

    Time was running out. I got 2F settled and then the attendance sheet was filled out first before distribution of the papers. During the exam, Afisha came to let me know that she had to supervise a Form 1. I gave her 1L which was the only batch of papers remaining and told her to have them fill the attendance form first before sharing the papers out.

    Deon came back and was confused about the students who could not do music. I had to take a moment to remember there were five of them that could not do it. I told him that he could put them in an area at the back of the class and they could review work for another exam. I forgot to tell him to have them sign the attendance form as they were present in class.

    Once I took my first sit on the teacher’s chair early into the eighth period, I forgot to give the children the St George’s score. I told them to use it when they got to that question and handed it turned upside-down. There were certain penalties to be given by a few. I did not know who the Form 1 exams were going on. I wanted to go over and see if there was anything to clarify in the test.

    Only after the test at the end of school, I had a discussion with Sanjay on the Eb Major scale. He had to leave soon after. Miss Jones and Roberts met me in 2F to return the papers. Seems as though I would be getting to mark all the papers by myself. It would be plenty of work but I was glad I did not have to wait.

    I got the King Wenceslas project submission from “Loui” during the evening when returned to my desk after school. I will have to grade his work when I get home and that will be the last of the projects. However, I got it graded in school so I would get my first class of exams to grade when I got home. “Mr Warner” project will have to settle for the low mark since I cannot access the document emailed to me. I got two exams done in the staffroom when I got there. It was nice and the new red pen I got was writing lovely.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:50 am – 4:21 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #50) – Day #226

Date for Entry: (Tuesday 28 November 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 12 December 2023)

[T1, W:13 – D:58, (Td:2)*].

Dear Diary,

    I got to Valsayn this morning with one Georgian. Daddy was late and as I got to Lockheart’s street, “Trevor” was taking the money before his maxi took off. Others in the back were impatient and wanted to go. I was “Kendrick” third in line waiting to drive onto the main road. I ate my first pie as soon as I got there and got a timesheet out of the drawer to fill out by the time. I had to do it over because there was a big mistake on the sheet done yesterday.

    After 9:00 AM, I went through more Form 1 projects. Only two names were not signed. I had to sign in for them in the submission form. Miss Gittens and Miss Jone were hurrying me to go do the exams as they. They wanted to end the exam early to finish faster. Got into a fallout with someone on the way to class. The woman stopped me to talk and she couldn’t speak. They were not even in the building when I got there.

    I went to 1L and got the exam started sometime after entering the classroom. Students were wondering why I was there and realised that I was supervising them today. I had the Visual Arts students sent out of the classroom so that the test could begin. However, Dr Blandin came and asked where everyone else was. I had to let her know that no one told me the other students would be staying in the class while the exam was going on. That was not good planning there. I made the students wait a bit longer than they had to.

    Miss Jones came to collect the papers one time from me as she saw the children were leaving. As I got back to my desk, I saw a Form 1 and a Form 2 project left for me. I had to sign for them. As much as I did not want to take the projects it was better to give them something other than zero.

    I made a mistake and sent Form 2 before checking to see who signed and who did not. That evening I went to deliver the Form 1 projects. “Rianna” and Kyra both came back with me to the office to do their conducting assessment. They were glad that the office was not the place to do it but when I took them in the corridor there were a lot more people. They were scared at first. We were also joined by Jesse. “Max” did not want to try. That evening I left early to get the copies of the project bound by Isa.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:50 am – 3:31 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #50) – Day #225

Date for Entry: (Monday 27 November 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 12 December 2023)

[T1, W:13 – D:57, (Td:1)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning I got up as soon as Daddy tapped the glass window. I got the computer turned on and got the charts WhatsApp to the Form 1 and 2 chats. Last night the current went for a long time and it was too late in the night to send them. Nathaniel and Nathan got theirs to send to 2M. I got to school late with gas. I didn’t eat because the exam was about to begin and I was supposed to Supervise an English Exam that morning.

    I met Miss Libert in the Block K staffroom. Me and “Maria” were late. Miss Libert walked me over to 1F and she told me that I could begin the exam one time. Mrs Santana said that the exam should not be more than one and a half hours. As soon as Mrs Pope walked out the door, I got the children the papers and began the exam. I kept in mind that 10:20 AM should be the end of the exam’s duration.

    Hunger took me the entire time of the exam and had to wait to use the washroom. The students were not told that they were responsible for getting their papers. Students were allowed to get paper from a notebook in their bag one at a time. I walked each student to their bag and tore the pages out myself. Once the exam was over, Column by column was dismissed. The students were asked to take their bags and vacate the building. Packing their bags in class was not allowed. The papers were delivered to Miss Libert’s desk.

    I went to eat my potato pie after. It was a triangle in shape. I didn’t pay attention to the man and lady watching me in the waiting area. They were both gone by the time I began to unstapled my favourite project submissions from Form 1s and 2s for photocopying. This time around I decided to make copies of my favourite ones and bind them into souvenir books. I ended up standing like a zombie by the printing machine for the papers to finish print. The tiredness was real.

    Before my copies were done, Jeanice gave me the Visual Arts papers for 2M this evening. I left the copies on my desk and went to make the Form 1 project copies. All of the projects were stapled and returned to their folders after school. The time ran out when students came to do practical assessments. Lunchtime also crept up on me by surprise. I Aleah, and Kenya when they came to the office. was greeted by Ari, “Kate”. I felt lost today too because I left my pencil case home.

    I got to 2M late with the practical assessments by seven minutes. I got the students ready and we got the exam completed. The test was over five minutes before school was dismissed. The children were all laughing at their Grinch drawing. Coming back down to the bus shuttle area, I gave Miss Gittens the 2M papers and went to the office. Was more zombie than this morning.

    In the staffroom, I had my second pie and graded three more projects before leaving school. Miss was marking her final Form 2 papers and Susan was stapling papers for tomorrow. “Maria” was grading essays at her desk. We left school last. I got Samuel’s project from the office to take home with me and Jeanice called me out before I walked out.

    Had a nice evening playing chess with Sanjay in the library, after leaving the 2M papers with Miss. He had to leave and that was the end of our seriously difficult game. It was a while since I last played it. We played over the chess app on his phone. That was my first attempt using Saw some of my 1L students playing and running about. I got someone’s number to send them pictures of charts and other information for their final exam.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:50 am – 4:45 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #49) – Day #224

Date for Entry: (Friday 24 November 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (December 2023)

[T1, W:12 – D:56, (Td:6)*].

**time sig description chart

Dear Diary,

    It was too hard to wake up this morning. I got to Valsayn with one Georgian in the maxi. Didn’t know Isekel was in the back. We spoke and then I went to duty. Ate one pie and then got into my projects like diving into a swimming pool but just with clothes on.

    I did not realise that lunchtime came so quickly. “Ella” came one time and asked to do the make-up test from yesterday. I was a bit shocked and we laughed. “Tika” was supposed to come and do it too since she was sick and had asked for “Ella” to take her to the office. “Mr Simmons” came and he and “Ella” shared my brown table in the ‘waiting area’ of the office. “Mr Hoyte” also came for the make-up test.

    Sanjay and “Freddy” came to do their practical also. Form 1s too came in to drop last-minute projects and I had the forms crazy all over the place. I took Sanjay and “Freddy” outside with my music bookstand to do the conducting assessment. “Yash” came to do the practical conducting too with Nathan but Nathan said Monday. I hope ‘Monday’ will come. I could see that the questions were difficult for “Yash” but he did try hard.

    I went back into the office to see the three students still doing the make-up test. I hope they did not cheat. They finished up their exams and went back to class. As I was about to clean up my desk for the fifth time for the day, Kayley came in to do her make-up exam too. I was concerned that she would be missing her class. I opened the brown table for her and told her it would be better to do it one time.

    “Miss Coker” came to ask a question on the Major scales. She had brought her practice worksheet with her thankfully and I could have gotten to assist. She was able to take the 2M projects with her to return to the others. I went to deliver the other projects that could have been handed back early. The school day was done when I exited Block K. I heard Riley shout to me with his hand up and a big smile, “Sir! Iz ah boss!” Seems like he did well in his Time Signatures and Beaming test.

    “Nicole” and I spoke in front of the auditorium for the bus shuttle. Not a nice story. I went to the other side to help Aleah with some of her questions in the exam paper that she got back. “Miss Noel” and “Freddy” were there listening in. I showed her ‘example’. I also went back through the formula for the Major scale and pitches for the tonic triad.

    “Jenny” showed me her blue bard board flower. It was nice but it was wet and she had to hold it. I offered her to make an envelope for it. She and two others went with me to the office and I made the envelope out of three sheets of paper. Sadly, I did not get a picture for my journal entry. She left to wash her hands and I wrote her name on it before handing the other student to carry it for her.

    As the evening got later, I went to erase the pencil line for the time signature descriptions chart that I made that evening. “Miss Wilson” was having a loud session with her mother by the gate. She said that she had her project for me but left the form in her class. I told her to get the sheet for the submission. I had enough time to erase the chart and send both that and the table back inside. Wondered if she couldn’t find it or if she had left. Soon she came and handed it to me. I told her that I would take care of the insertion for her.

    I went to pack up my bag. Jeanice was stapling the Form 3 Visual Arts exam papers for next week. There was a lady who misplaced her child in the compound. She seemed to be in a rush. As soon as Nigel brought the child to the office, we could hear the parent’s voice walking out of the compound. I went over to the staffroom. Looking forward to my weekend with these projects.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(8:22 am – 4:32 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #49) – Day #223

Date for Entry: (Thursday 23 November 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 11 December 2023)

[T1, W:12 – D:5, (Td:5)*].

**Jenny's cardboard flower

Dear Diary,

    I got to Valsayn late this morning., Went to bed after one. Crystal was in the same maxi and I told her about what happened with marking projects last night on our way on the road to the campus. I had my pie and then went off to Block K. Some children from 1M were loud and chatty. I had to wait for Miss Chote to come out again. Two students did the practical in the last few minutes before class ended. I only remembered to pack the Form 2 cause I knew they’d have the exam.

    I waited in the same Block K staffroom for recess to finish. I went through Facebook until it was time for class again with 2L. Students were out by the door buying Subway cookies from the footballers. My bags were stuffed with books, exam papers, and Form 1 and 2 practical assessment slips. I gave them one minute to finish the cookies. They had to be yelled up while the exam papers were being distributed. Only one student did the practical conducting in the last ten minutes.

    I spoke with “Nicole” outside the art room. Everyone was outside while they were bug-spraying the room. Strangely the compound was beginning to be filled with a lot of flies. Two flies came into the office and were starting the others in the admin section. No one else came for the practical assessment during lunchtime.

    After lunch, a lady came to see Miss Pope. She had to wait. I messaged her to let her know that the lady was there and had a quick check by her desk. I took the time to make over another time signature description chart. I felt like my choice of colours was not good. They came out too dark and I did not have all of my colours with me.

    I did not work on the papers from 2L until after school. I was happy for Susan’s daughter. She had finally accomplished what she had set out to do. We went for a ride that evening too into Valpark. We got lost in all of the back roads until the road to the highway was met. Real nice adventure, lol. I got all of 2L’s papers graded and corrected. I had a bible study session with Aunty and Uncle. It was late and felt tired in the night.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(9:10 am – 4:20 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #49) – Day #222

 Date for Entry: (Wednesday 22 November 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (December 2023)

[T1, W:12 – D:54, (Td:4)*].

Dear Diary,

    I got to Valsayn with a new driver today. Nodarse and an older Georgian were with us in the Maxi. We got a crossing help from the driver too. I had a double for breakfast with a newspaper on my desk. No one was in the office still and someone needed copies.

    I went to 2L and felt I was late. We completed the conducting worksheet. In the last thirty minutes of the third period, I allowed 5 students to do the practical assessment. I got more projects during recess. Everyone signed first and then I took their project in my hands. I hoped that more would be coming by lunchtime. I saw the “Princess model” come into the office for a short time and went. Mr Marlon spoke with me before leaving the office with Miss MacMillian.

    I got my exam supervision schedule. I had to walk back to the office to make new copies. When I went to deliver Miss Jones’ timetable. She had her Form 4s doing their final exam in the Theatre Room. When she said that she wanted to go and do a final with her Form 3s I told her that I would stay with them. I took the papers with me to the office for safekeeping. She met me back in the office and gave her the exam papers while continuing to make the projects. "Mr Samlal" got his leg twisted during the fifth and sixth periods.

    As lunchtime came, I was not feeling so well. I did not even get to do the chart that I wanted to make. I forgot that “Mr Danclare” was coming to submit his Parang project too. Then “Yash” came to meet me for a music session and I was not expecting it. I had to send “Mr Lallwah” back when he came with his recorder. 2M this evening didn’t look like they were going to do so well in their test. I got Matthew with two questions. I left the office for the staffroom early after school.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:52 am – 4:53 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #49) – Day #221

Date for Entry: (Tuesday 21 November 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (December 2023)

[T1, W:12 – D:53, (Td:3)*].

Dear Diary,

    Came with one maxi. A day came out behind me and Deon was in another in front. I saw Miss Chote in the office. I felt like I was lucky when Abigail came in. I asked to beg if 1F could have gathered back in class at 12:30.

    When I met her at my entrance in Block K, she said that she forgot to tell the children. I had class with 1M first and it was a long session. We got through with the first two recorder exercises during those two periods. Janessa was late for 1F. I passed by to write a message on the board to remind the students to return at 12:30 pm. Some of them were still coming from Woodworks.

    I returned to the office and got some more projects from 2F graded. Some of the Form 1 projects were also graded. At this point, the projects were corrected, marked and graded as they were in the heap. I went over to Block K at lunchtime with my umbrella again. Rain began to pour down heavily and I waited a while. Only a few students remained in the 1F classroom. I worked with the students who were there and lunchtime was over before we knew it.

    In time for the lineup to re-enter the classrooms, the Forms 1s were kept outside for making noise during all recess in the corridors. I stood in the 1L Boys’ line at the back and waited. It took a very long for them to get inside. They also had to wait for the students responsible for sweeping the classroom for the day to finish, then roll call and then I could enter. Mr Marlon greeted me as I was about to wait by the door and he rolled back on his chair into the staffroom.

    1L did the same thing as 1M this morning for the double period. There were three students to attempted the practical assessment that evening in the final ten minutes before school to over. The practical slips for Forms 1 and 2 were with me. I preferred to do the Form 2 assessment more. Not sure if it was because I liked the Music Theory trivia questions. Only one more project was submitted this afternoon too. “GG” was talking too much and too loudly. Couldn’t focus too much.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(8:07 am – 4:28 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #49) – Day #220

Date for Entry: (Monday 20 November 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Sunday 10 December 2023)

[T1, W:12 – D:52, (Td:2)*].

**Christmas tree

Dear Diary,

    I came to Valsayn with “Chess” in the maxi. The driver was Frank. He was in a hurry today. I saw “Nicole” going up to the staffroom as I was heading into the office. We spoke by Miss Mary and “Alicia” office until the bell for roll call. There was no hall assembly this morning because of upper school examinations. I had a class with 2M this morning. We did the ‘two-four’ conducting exercises.

    During the third and fourth periods, I had 1L. Initially, the Forms would have gotten to the music room but I took them because of no Air-conditioning and the untidy room. They did recorder practice for Exercises 1-2. Each student took turns. They were very excited to play. Many times, I had to ask for the recorder to be placed down on tables. Exercises 3-4 were given to them as homework for the next time that we would focus on recorder practical. There was no Ameer today.

    Recess came quickly. I got to 2F on time with new worksheets. The time signatures and ledger lines exam were given first. With less than forty minutes for time, I didn’t bother with the major scales test. I decided I would give them that test as practice instead.

    2F class was given a short review and run-through of the six conducting exercises. The first three were reviewed, which was given previously, Then I taught them the final three. Ari submitted his Good King Wenceslas project early. He was telling the others that the project was the only reason why he came to school that day. We had a laugh that he gave the class the submission form to sign instead of the other I had for that day.

    Miss Chote had forgotten her duster that I returned at lunch. I gave the photographer student my email to send to the video girl at the Diwali function to send me an email of my performance. As lunchtime continued, I returned to my desk in the office and started grading all of the papers. Donna came later in period seven to print her Form 3 Spanish papers and asked to borrow my scissors. We sat down and stapled a large portion of it together. School ended faster than expected.

    A nice surprise came too. Miss Paul came for a visit to the school. She came to do some business. I was very happy to see her. I walked her out to her car as she was about to leave some long minutes after school. I had done cleaning my desk which loves to get untidy swiftly. I got my bags and went to the staffroom to meet up with “GG”, Mr Raymond, Susan, “Maria” and “Nicole”.

    While waiting in the staffroom, Janessa came to ask me for my double period with 1F tomorrow. Students and teachers said that she was looking for me all day. I didn’t want to at first because I wanted to have the final practical with them. I knew they could do it on their own if they tried so I told her to take the two periods.

    The others were liming and grading Susan’s Form 1s’ Sombreros. I helped them decorate the Christmas tree and then “Maria” added her crochet angels. We back to get Mr Raymond four bars of my staples for his exam papers. If I knew I would have gone over earlier and gone to help him staple them.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:48 am – 5:01 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #48) – Day #219

Date for Entry: (Thursday 16 November 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 09 December 2023)

[T1, W:11 – D:51, (Td:2)*].

** special performers’ food

Dear Diary,

    Quick rain and a bright sun in the sky this morning. Maxi filled quickly and long wait for the light to change. A lot of traffic bugged the road too. I washed my hands after getting in and then walked Miss Ali into the office. We somehow were matching in colours. She had a nice outfit but the jacket was better. The office got quiet and there was a rush for copies. Only Afisha and I were there.

    I didn’t want to stay in the office much longer because of the noise. I went to the staffroom with projects from students of 1L to grade. I met “Maria” there and Mr Raymond on the couch. Surprisingly, Nicole came walking into the staffroom with new hair. It looked good. She asked me if I was surprised to see her. It was a whole week. I got a few of the projects graded.

    I went to help them move drinks from the café to the library and then the old 1M room, now occupied by Form 5s, was used for food and the old 1L room was used for cake and ice-cream handled by “Choo-Choo” and “Kimmy”. I stayed with Nicole to serve the drinks in the other room. Nicole and Afisha served the food.

    We had concerns about the aesthetic since it was packed in Box Lunch boxes, which were catered for the school by Box Lunch people. Also, the juice ran out too quickly. We had a few people who stopped by. The programme finished too late. Not many of the performers came to get their special food. Many of us helped each other with those.

    As school finished, the OJTS were in the office and the two news ones left early. I stayed helping “ChooChoo” and Waverley clear out the bins for the drinks and I individually sorted out the bottles into their types and brands. They had to get some footballers to clean back up the room. They were paid for with the extra special performers’ food and extra water afterwards.

    In the staffroom, we had some extra cake from the crumbs after. “ChoChoo” said she would have done the same thing when she was small after seeing me sticking my hands in the crumbs. I used my clean left hand and fed her a bit from the scraps in the box. I got a ride from “Maria” to Curepe. The rain came back down heavily and so were my bags too with the food and projects.

    I gave Daddy the food to hold and I held onto the projects in my hands. Praise God there were extra bags in the office. Andrew was sick so he didn’t come with us. We spent a long while looking for my calculator. He said he would get one for me tomorrow. I learned from one of the classes that tomorrow too would be no school since it would be the Principal's Holiday. I hope those children prepare my project for submission next week.

LINK(S):

• St. George's Achievement Day (2023) - Programme.**

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:58 am – 3:36 pm)