St. George’s College (Week #62) – Day #231

Date for Entry: (Wednesday 13 March 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 04 March 2024)

[T2, W:11 – WD:47, (Td:4)*].

Dear Diary,

    I went to Curepe later after an early awakening. The driver was Marquis today. There was a while waiting for his maxi to be full. A friend of Mr. Georgian came down to Valsion with me. As soon as I entered the office, it was filled with late teachers coming in to sign. I took Miss Dana's package with me to carry for her in Block A. I saw that she had signed attendance already. She got it as soon as I entered the staff room.

    “Jess” was taking a long time to come. I had to go down to Block C to get her and walk her to class. There was a nice maths question on the board with graph work. I believe this was in the 2L classroom. One part of the question finding x=4 on the Cartesian graph seemed a bit difficult for me.

    I sat with Vara in the front class in the computer room where they were situated and she opened the graph book and showed me how to find the line x equals 4. She told me that the commas in the question were called prime and that the topic was reflections when I had asked her. It seemed fun. I hope I can find some graph paper to do those too. I sat in the back of the temporary classroom for 2L for the rest of the double period while Jess did recordings of the extempo submissions.

    I left at 5 minutes after 9.30 am. I was able to get another look at the SAGS score with my score file open. There was a lot of difference from what I saw in the score notation that was provided to me by Mr Sharma. It seemed as though the score provided to me by Mr Sharma and the recording from the SAGS website was much different.

    I am not sure if it was an arrangement created by a student or if that was an updated version that they were now using. I had to cut this session of working on SAGS Anthem short because Jess wanted me to meet her to carry her laptop and projector to 3M. This was for the 5th and 6th periods after recess. The Form 3 children were already introduced to family instruments and the ethnographic classification of instruments. This class was a review as Ms Roberts was not there.

    Once lunchtime came, I returned to the staff room until lunchtime. I didn't bother to work on any music again but wrote some compositions. I had a long prayer. After class with 2M, in which they did recordings and submissions also, I went to sit in Block C. Had a light chat with Ms Greenaway while waiting for the travelling crowd by the road to clear out after travel today. When I got out onto the road, a maxi driver sped out without watching inside the road.

    The next driver was a fast one and he flashed the lights quickly some miles ahead for me. I put out my hands in advance for him to see me. As soon as I sat in the front row to the back, I realized that it was Saga Boy Andy driving. He had his permit hanging from the top of the front mirror and I learned that his surname was also Andy, just like me.

    I went home and did about 2 to 3 lessons in the book. I couldn't do anything after that at 8 pm. No music at all. I got some new Christian music set in a new playlist to do for Steel Pan. I ended up falling asleep on the couch and eventually went to bed somewhere after 10 pm. I decided that a new playlist for Christian music would be best to help me finish out the rest of the 50 pieces of music inside there.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:55 am – 4:00 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #62) – Day #230

Date for Entry: (Tuesday 12 March 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 04 March 2024)

[T2, W:11 – WD:46, (Td:3)*].

Dear Diary,

    Today Daddy bought me a jam tart by the bakery near the bus route in addition to the single pie he bought from Breakfast Express. The pie was bought from a doubles vendor who wanted the other colleague to finish their story about some girl they were talking about.

    I had a good laugh about it in my mind but it was cut short when I got onto Lockhart Street. The driver was pushy and a lady got out because of his behaviour. He sent me into a seat had someone sit by the footrest and squished all three of us in the front row.

    As I got to the pavement to walk into the UTT compound, Mr Latren called me into his bus and handed me a longer black phone. He asked that I drop it off at the administration office. Thankfully Ms. Ali was there in the office to receive it. I hope that someone comes back to collect it. Mr. Martin and I signed and left in the office.

    It felt nice to take my bags and go down to Blockgate's staff room. I sat with Nia and Shoba to eat my breakfast pie. They were also eating breakfast at the same time. I got a cell phone call from Jess on WhatsApp to get 1M to come down to the music room. They too had their C major practical as 1L. The group was not ready for anything in terms of submissions for their coursework assignments. The first group I took outside of the music room was ready to try and submit. The other two groups had nothing ready and didn't bother. I had to go and get 1F right after that class was over.

    The Muslim boys remained and told me that they were fasting. I still brought them over for Jess to determine what would happen. She did not let them go to the library but kept them outside the music room in their back. There was some commotion with the attendance sheet.

    I helped Brad draw the low C tenor pan in his notebook to practice the scale, and Riley was confused. He took Hussain's book and came to me too. Only one group was able to do a recording of their soca song. However, the Wi-Fi connection was not good, and the children did not get to do their submission into the Google Classroom.

     At recess time, I went to the washroom and immediately got down to work. Until the end of lunchtime for our evening class, I was able to get the lesson part finished and exercises to compose after school. I had a nice chat with Mrs. Santana and Mr. Charles while doing work in the staff room. Miss Jess met me outside Block C's staff room. I got to Block A and there was an incident in 1F. Mrs. Pope’s voice was heard all through the corridors.

    It took a very long time for Shiva to come to take his evening attendance. I did not want to enter the classroom until he had come and taken attendance. Some children were more restless than in the previous 1F class. Some of them ran off down the corridor and ended up leaving me just before school had left again. Hopefully, one group will get their work done. She came back and did recordings with two groups. “Mr. Khan” and “Mr. Samlal’s” group chose a dancehall beat. However, they were asked to do over the recording with a soca beat.

    She left the class with a few students to do practical tests that they had missed the previous day. The troublemaker Aliasah came back and asked him if he could come back to class. I sent him off in anger and shut the door in their faces. The door went right in and I continued to sit back and supervise the children. I took the time to start the lesson on ambition and questions were also composed. This was all completed before the end of class. The children were able to leave 5 minutes before school was over for the shuttle.

    They had one of the lobby chairs in the Admin office placed back at my desk. I felt so angry to pack up everything and have them migrate over to Block A for the rest of our stay at Falzine. Sitting for a while in the staff room, Shiva said that Jess had yelled him up because he had sent the children off to the library instead of letting her decide what to do. At least it was like he got a taste of what it's like being in that boat.

    On the contrary, I did tell them to let them know if I missed that they were going to the library. Maybe their misbehaving attitudes too did not make them want to go and tell Miss. She left sometime after I got back in the Block C staff room and asked me to make another book just like I did for St. George's College Song with the other two national songs This is Our Flag and Our Nation's Dawning for Steel Pan.

    This was something I did not want to do because it was not something I chose to do. However, with time I would like to see if I would be able enough to come up with those two books. As we were waiting, Mrs. Dreykeran came in and told us that there was a fire in the AV room above the principal's office. She sat in the sitting area by the couches and ate her Mario's burger. I started to laugh and she called me wicked. I didn't care.

    We started to pack up immediately and left the compound early. That same evening I had class with Ash and because he did not do his homework we had to take the entire two hours doing the homework and correcting it.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:49 am – 3:37 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #62) – Day #279

Date for Entry: (Monday 11 March 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 04 March 2024)

[T2, W:11 – WD:45, (Td:2)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning I came in early and had an early start probably after the rest yesterday evening. I was the first one in the office again. No Georgians were there with me in the maxi. As soon as I got signed in, Jess came to sign also. Mrs. Santana told me about her Form 1 exam today and told me that she would ask Miss Gittens for permission to use me during the last two periods of school.

    I got my things and went down to Block C after a chat with Miss Mary and Miss Gittens about Saturday's shooting in Porto, Spain. I waited for Jess to finish her form teacher duties outside of 1F and we went to class to 2M. They had to finish their Google Chrome Lab compositions and submit them to the Google Classroom. I learned that the children had to copy a link and send it to the Google Classroom as their submission.

    1L came after to the music room. The door was locked and the keys were sent with a student. Jess did the C major scale assessment while I helped upload student assignments. One girl got through outside the hall and I took her back. The other two groups sent out of the classroom with me had nothing ready for recording, so I sent them back to the classroom.

    At the start of recess, a pan tuner came and made a noise. We had to send the students outside and back to their classrooms. I informed Jess of the test later on our way outside of the music room. She messaged me at Blocket to say that she would find out about it. I went to 2F for a repeat of what was done with 2M earlier. I was able to do a second question for Ties and Slurs in 2M. I got some Self-Edge exercises for dotted notes and some Maths questions on that same topic as well.

    During my working from lunch to the end of the 7th period, I got the two diagnostic tests completed as a 50% test. I will have to make a lesson for ambition for that question to be examined. The children were finished by 2.30 pm. I collected the papers at 2:25 and allowed the children to I collected the papers at 2.25 and allowed the children to leave the building. 2:30 came right away and once the students finished, the last five of 25 multiple-choice questions. The test was long gone so Maria took these papers from me. I left my bags in the staff room to use the washroom and then wrote down today's entry.

    Donna stayed back in block A to begin marking papers. Mrs. Santana came in line and Susan didn't have the energy. There was a commotion about next week as the last week for school and too many events with dates not confirmed. There was a commotion about next week as the last week for school and too many events with dates not confirmed.

    That evening after daddy collected me by the terminal, he told me that Andrew had brought churches to me. I sat on the couch and played a few games. The last game was another Elmwood mystery game to find a missing girl named Zoe. Two best friends disliked each other. Zoe's boyfriend Brad and Betty's boyfriend Kevin are my top two suspects. I didn't pay attention to the name properly.

    I woke up from 11 at 3.15 to go to bed. It was quickly at the sound of Daddy tapping the glass window for me to wake up again. It was quickly the sound of Daddy tapping the glass window for me to wake up again.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:49 am – 4:29 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #61) – Day #276

Date for Entry: (Wednesday 06 March 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Sunday 28 April 2024)

[T2, W:10 – WD:42, (Td:5)*].

Dear Diary,

    I came to Valsayn with a new driver and had a long wait across the road. Teachers filled up the office to either sign or wait for last-minute copies for exams on the same day. They would now have to collate all those papers that they printed and carry them to the exam to staple. I saw Jess message me to meet her in class so I went by the staff room first but no one was there and I went to check in the music room.

    Only the two Lower 6 students were practising. No Form 4 students were around. As soon as I was about to go back to block K to do work, Jess met me in the corridor. She told me that today was day 4 when I thought it was day 5. She also told me that they moved from the L classroom to the 4L classroom. This room was a much bigger room than what they originally had.

    I visited Miss Gittens before heading over to block K to give her some documents. She didn't seem too well and the room was hot. There was still no sign of Miss Roberts and Janice for the morning. I got started working on questions for the dotted notes. After recess, the staff meeting was about to start. I thought I was running late but thankfully it did not start as yet.

    Only five minutes after eleven the meeting officially began with a word of prayer. The meeting was very informative. A lot of notes were taken. End of meeting. I went back to the staff room in block K. The washroom was leaking as always. “Jess” told me to hold on with 2M when she got back to the school from the district office. I had to wait because two boys got an emergency escape door broken and then the entire lower school was called out to the lobby for a talk.

    “Mr. Marlon” had to load up all the Form 1s, 2s and 3s. Everyone got back into their classrooms at 1.50 pm and I saw Jess waiting outside the door by 2M. The study topic for this class with 2M was the contour of notes and then they were given a music game where they had to compose a melody and a beat. The melody had to show either a mixture of conjunct and disjunct motion. It seemed very interesting. She gave them the link to a platform called Google Chrome Lab.

    I still felt that Dr. Blandin didn't want to give me back my chair. I stood by my desk at the end of school and felt the emptiness. I wondered when a chair would be placed back for me to sit. I sat working on my entry while sitting with “Maria”, “Choo-Choo” and “GG” in Block C.

    “GG” was taking up exam schedules for Form 5s and Form 6s. Tutu wasn't feeling so well. She was sitting and waiting for Ms. Patel, her husband, to pick them up. Her hair was beautiful. We ended up missing “Jan” again and hoped that she was alright. I had class with “Ash” this afternoon and the homework took the full two hours. We'll have to ask for another session to get major skills done with him. I hope to finish the transcription of “God of Vengeance” in the staff room with my headphones. I also hope that I'll be able to find a strumming pattern for it.

LINK(S):

• Sicilienne. 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(8:36 am – 4:59 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #61) – Day #275

Date for Entry: (Tuesday 05 March 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Sunday 28 April 2024)

[T2, W:10 – WD:41, (Td:4)*].

Dear Diary,

    Yesterday was a principal's holiday after the sports day on Friday. I went to bed after 3 AM this morning but was able to get up on time. Yes, it was not easy, but I did it. On to Hartlock Street. The front driver had one seat to go, and then he closed the door. I realized that they had filled up already. That driver was Shiraz.

    I took the maxi behind, and that driver needed 3 more persons. We had 3 nice Venz guys in the back. The vans who sat by the door seat had a nice cross airing. It was nice to see, but I don't think there's something I would do. I was the first to exit the maxi. I praised God for a quick and safe crossing of the road.

    I met Crystal in the office, and some of the other teachers, Mrs Santana and Mr Payer were matching me with blue today. A lot of other teachers, non-Mitchell house teachers, were also in blue. Maybe they were in protest that Mitchell should have been placed first in both matching and chantwell for the sports day. I know that today is the first Tuesday of the month, but maybe we might have a staff meeting.

    I went to meet “Jess” early, and we went to class. We sat in with 1M, and then she took me to 1M during the period for our session. I checked our students' work while she sat by the teacher's desk and listened to the children singing. I sat with Zippora's group and worked out the music and rhythm to help them with their song. They did not like the rhythm that Jess gave them, so I worked out each line for them to the same beat. They did not get enough time to practice the song for the evening. All of the recess was used to finish this work.

    There was a staff meeting after. I went to the washroom quickly, and then to the library. Staff meeting began. The topics for the staff meeting were numerous:

• SPORTS DAY: The expenditure for Venture Sports, donations, trophies, credit, ambulance, and releases. We were told that the overall expenditure was $20,870.
• There were MOE policies discussed in terms of field trips, downtime policy, roster requests, special book and approval required books, leaving compound protocol, and guests on school compound protocol.
• There were also financial committee members' requests to start a committee dealing with the school finances. Ms. Burnett and Ms. Roberts were both willing to assist Dr. Jokey D. Klein.
• The school advanced six years without a vice-principal.
• Tuesday's concert was discussed by Ms. Jessop. We were told that it was a cultural competition with costumes in the morning with music calypso and soca competitions. The afternoon would be a jump-up. Friday would resume on day one.
• There was also a guest, a past student of George's. He sat in 1998 and 1979. He shared with us his accomplishments in sports and his company in tutoring and teaching students.
• Exam paper, timetable by HOD to organize, FAC email, teacher's email issue, mock exam by 26th of February to begin.
• Maths field day, 14 guests, Form 3 and 2, 1st of March.
• Science field day, 3 guests, Form 1, Form 2, Form 3, 19th of March.

[End of the meeting.]

 

    I sat with Mrs. Santana, Mr. Peay and Dr. Jokey. I did not get the figure in full for the expenditures. The meeting had a very strange ending. I was not sure if Ms. Gittens would be coming back to school again. At lunchtime, I got copies of the music for the group that I had worked out over recess. The girls from the Sephora group were not in class.

    One student held onto the sheets for them, but I met up with the girls in the hall during lunchtime for the practice. Many of the foremen were in the hall with chess during lunchtime, so I stayed with them until the end of school. I became the DJ for recording the names of students and also the songs that they composed for both Form 1 and 2. I also had to deal with the music.

    “Maria” didn't come today and Suzanne didn't say anything. I didn't bother to get angry about it. I had finished up my pie called Daddy and walked down the road. The first maxi could not stop. Unfortunately, the second one stopped for me to hurriedly walk down the road. I was so tired I fell asleep in Daddy's car. He brought me Coca-Cola to wake me a little.

    I was glad to finally converse with someone a few short minutes after 6 p.m. to ask for assistance in seeking permission for my Tutor Anthem video on YouTube to receive approval for me to change the status of Unlisted to Public. The video was already on YouTube. I hoped that this lady would be able to help. It was in the nick of time before tomorrow's meeting. I messaged John that same night about the update.

    I was outside in the gallery and at that point, “Yash” had sent me a message to confirm if we were having classes tonight. That was a good reminder. I had completely forgotten about class time working outside to make up time. As I was sitting up at 7.52 p.m., I was worried that I was teaching him but he would not have been able to understand. He was able to understand crotchet beats which were taught earlier but the mini beats were giving him trouble.

    Thankfully, jokes and some Trini dialect helped. It took two hours and finally, he understood. The session began with a review of everything which was 15 minutes and then the time signatures from scratch. I felt so tired and I had to go to bed early. I played four rounds of bingo and I was out. I did not even get to read a chapter. The night was too exhausting and hot.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(8:21 am – 4:22 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #61) – Day #274

 Date for Entry: (Monday 04 March 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Sunday 28 April 2024)

[T2, W:10 – WD:40, (Td:3)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning I had a hard job to wake up. I ended up visiting Whisper late after giving up on the gallery colouring book and decor. There began to be a rip-off where you had to have a certain amount of energy to pay for canvas. I did not like having to pay 30 points of energy for one canvas. That was too much.

    On Lockheart Street, I saw “Sharaz” speaking with the new driver who took me in the maxi to Valsane. There was one Georgian girl to drop off with and as soon as “Lady Valsayn” walked onto Lockhart Street the music changed. I was again hurrying to school but thankfully assembly was still going on.

    I met “Jess” by the staff room after eating breakfast and parking and went over to 1M. Susan was still taking roll. The children had to copy the tenner pan in their notebooks and they did their rolling exercise with Jess. They had to walk back down to the classroom because Miss Roberts had 3F in the music room for the first two periods.

    1F was right after a double period with 1M and they were taken to the music room. Mrs. Santana had them standing quietly in the class. I made them remain standing with Jess and she allowed them to sit down. They had the same as 1M but everyone took turns doing C major ascending until recess. I spoke with Miss Kittens about Bible study in the corridor and then went over to Block A and sat in the cool breeze.

    Mrs. Ramsingh offered to buy Parsad with sweets but I asked for the sweets alone. I decided to work on a diagnostic test for the second portion of the book and was able to get 65% out of questions for that full-time until the end of lunchtime. I met back with Jess in the staff room. She moved on her own without saying anything and told me to go ahead.

    Shiva was still taking attendance in 1L and I waited by the door for her to go inside and get the children lined up to go back down to the music room. I walked in front of the Muslim children who were kept back with us from going to the library. They kept our front in the sun for us. We got the door open for a girl to be set free. She was locked in. This was the girl who liked to play the drums.

    The session took a long to finish. I left and packed up early to go to the staff room. As I was about to leave for a maxi, Mr. Raymond gave me a ride out to Curepe. Daddy was glad to have the early leave. Andrew was already in the car. I completed major skills in the book and then went to work on God of Vengeance for Steel Pan. A lot of repeats were occurring in the song but I got to the sixth minute. I had a half-hour walk and then gamed on the tablet before bed.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:58 am – 3:18 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #60) – Day #273

Date for Entry: (Friday 01 March 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Sunday 28 April 2024)

[T2, W:09 – WD:39, (Td:2)*].

Dear Diary,

    I came to school in a maxi with a semi-angry driver. I thanked him while paying and he seemed to cheer up when I said thanks. The arrival was late and I got to the office in a rush. “Jess” gave me a call about the test paper. Kiel brought the attendance book for me to sign and said that they are checking the book for attendance from now. I signed got to pack up and went out of the office at 2 am. “Jess” was sitting by the teacher's desk. She told me that the students were still in religious instruction.

    They were given the test to do in 15 minutes and they were given the rest of the questions to do for homework. That was the end of the double period. I don't like when religious instructions take up the teaching time.

    We had 1L afterwards. They had to draw out a tenner pan in their notebooks in their music room and she made them line up and finally, we got there. The rest of the class was rolling with pencils and then the full C major scale on the tenner pan. Some students by force had to play on the same scale on either double tenner or double second spans when the tenner pans were not available.

    I finally had breakfast at recess and took some time to myself. Seems as if “Jess” was there before a while. She sent me back to get her papers to correct them. This took the full double period until she decided to play national songs again. I sat with “Max” and “Cody” in 2F while they corrected their papers. I tried to write the corrections for errors on the paper while I did my journal entries in my journal book.

    A lot of the students and teachers in Block K were eating KFC today. It smelled of the room nicely. I hope to get work on my book done too. I was able to finish the rhythmic composition section. The tablature section was giving me too much trouble and more paragraphs were needed to complete this session. More research will also have to be done on the same topic.

    I drank out the remainder of the water that Mrs Ramsingh brought for me. She met me earlier in the corridor this morning on my way to 2M and gave me a 660 ml bottle and said that she had taken my bottle of water because her throat was very dry so she had bought me another one. I waited a while in the staff room until I went to pack up.

    Miss Harris was using my table until she left. The copies for “GG” were taken now and the machine was doing one sheet at a time because of low internet. I left my copies there and in case it printed well it would have been there. I went to the line with “GG” and Miss Gittens in the staff room. We had to wait for Miss Harris to ride out with Mr Raymond again.

    We took a long ride to Chagonas that evening and then back up to Tunapuna. It was a nice ride that Friday evening. It was not expected to happen out of the blue. I was surprised to see that Diamond Vale was somewhere down in the south or maybe close to the central just before heading up to see Warren Vale. I can't remember the road to go to Kelly Presbyterian. I got a ride up to Tunapuna and that did not get much done again for the rest of the night.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(8:10 am – 5:14 pm)