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)