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 #47) – Day #213

Date for Entry: (Tuesday 07 November 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 13 November 2023)

[T1, W:10 – D:2, (Td:2)*].

**Video

Dear Diary,

    One Georgian girl came with me in the maxi today. I got to the office and met four bags of 25 Kurma on my desk. Mrs Sawh came and removed them for me. Plenty of teachers were wearing green. I was about to wear my green shirt too. The principal asked me to open the door for her but she stood up talking and I left. I went to class and did the major scales lesson with 2M. The full note was received and the same homework was done.

    I moved on to 1L and did a review of all the homework that they were assigned for the term and in preparation for their exam. No homework was given. I did not use the remainder of the note conversion worksheets again. I decided to continue from the review since that was enough and get to lesson six. Another test was required for coursework. Ameer submitted along with another boy. I showed the class that they would have to sign a similar attendance form when they are submitting it next week.

    I ended up finishing my recess late by waiting for stationary with Mrs Blandin-Maharaj. We entered the library for the staff meeting at 11:09 AM. It had already started:

• Exams start the Monday (20th) after Achievement Day week (for Lower School).
• HODs to set the timetable for teacher supervision in their departments.
• Papers to print must be sent early (24 hours before).
• Permit for fundraisers to be authorised by the School’s Supervisor.
• Halloween Movie Night was a success.
• Exam papers are to be set (by Monday 13th) to print.
• Supervision by Dr Blandin (3 Teachers): 23 – Code of Conduct, MOE.
• Supervision to be sorted out by HODs when teachers are absent??
• Dr J: (E40, 2011)??

• FINAL WEEK: Tuesday – Staff meeting; the last for the term.
• FINAL WEEK: Thursday – Deadline for submission of Grades.
• FINAL WEEK: Thursday – Class parties.
• FINAL WEEK: Friday – (After Class Party) Teachers’ Lime.

 

    The meeting ended in a very unsettled manner and abruptly on some occasions and also disagreement. When I heard the deadline for the uploading of grades to George’s system and class part was the same day, I found it strange. I wished they would have mentioned the actual date instead of saying the day and last week. Mis Laurance got a copy of the “Gymnopedie No. 1” for her Clinical Supervision tomorrow (French class) before I left the library.

    I went back to the office and asked Mis Mohammed if I could have used the ‘dungeon’ to change my clothing. We had a good laugh. I had the must-stand already mounted up and had it set on the stage. My second entrance to the staffroom is where I met “Neesha” and Mrs Jaikaran. They were giving out invitations to the programme and we went over to the hall. They ended up leaving me. The school had to go through an early roll call and had the students assemble in the hall for 1 PM.

    I waited and waited for my turn to perform. I ended up falling asleep like one upper school boy who slept through the entire function. Some of my 2F students were in the back in front of me. “Jereem” tried to find out the name of the song since Tuesday. I told him that it was a surprise. Only after my performance, did I give him a copy of the music that I used.

    There were many dances done for the day. A very lovely one done by Mrs Jaikaran. Before it was my time, “Neesha” came to ask if I could have cut the performance in half “like two verses and two choruses” because the time for school was drawing nearer and their function had to finish too. When I was called to perform, the models had already blocked the two sides to get to the stage. I decided that my entrance would be from the central aisle. Sadly, there was no music for me to walk to but my cheering Form 1 students did perfectly.

    Once I was on the stage, I got the bookstand in front of the pan, clipped on the score and began immediately. I was very nervous. The introduction was messed up lightly but it was the correct rhythm even though the order of pitches was wrong. I continued to the end of the chorus on the first page and called it the end. It felt very abrupt as the staff meeting ended too, which made me feel like I did a crash landing. Somehow during the performance, the students started to clap to the beat. They ended up stopping too.

    As I took my seat back at the end of the hall, the bus shuttle came. Immediately all of the shuttle children got up and left the hall just like that. I got up and left Miss Bacca to go up in the front. They had a dance. A girl was dancing and I felt overshadowed as if I had failed but her music too had cut and then she ended up not doing the rest. I was looking forward to hers all evening. She even took the time to tie in the Ghungaroo. ‘Doctor’ was still in front watching the final dance before the modelling.

    Later that evening I got Kurma from “Choo-Choo” in a big box. I got another one. This one had a coconut flavour. But the other from Mrs Jaikaran had the ginger that gave it the real Kurma taste. I wished I had another pack. I went back to change the ‘dungeon’ back into my shirt and pants. 

    Late as I was leaving the office ‘Doctor’ told me that she appreciated and enjoyed the performance while walking her out. Mr Ustach was asked if school was being cancelled tomorrow but she said no. He wanted to know where we would be having lunch tomorrow if it flooded. I suggested that we go by the river. She laughed.

 

UPDATE

Saturday 11 November 2023.

    ‘Doctor’ had sent me a recording of the performance that she took during the Diwali Programme. On this day the Final exams for Form 1 and 2 were also verified by Miss Paul for approval and were both approved and sent to Miss Gittens for HOD approval/review.

    The school was emailed copies of the same exams along with the instructions for invigilators to do the exam and then another exam for the Forms 1s was set for this week. I did not teach anything much for the day from 8 AM to 4 PM. To cheer myself up I went and crafted the Form 2 Major scales and typed it up for when the time was right.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:53 am – 4:48 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #37) – Day #165

 Date for Entry: (Tuesday 04 July 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 07 August 2023)

[T3, W:12 – D:53, (Td:0)*].

Dear Diary,

    I had a strange driver today. I came alone and was very alone in the office. I was the only one there. ‘Tia’ came into the office some minutes after very busy and she remained in the conference room. I had breakfast in the kitchen where I met Miss Mustapha and we spoke for a short time. She told me about counting my time off from school during vacations. She said that I would need to know it for when my two years of contract is finished.

    When I got back to the office, I saw Mrs Santana. She had to speak to me about the programme. I  also showed her the cake that I also made for the function later that evening. Kiel got to see the cake that I made on the way back to the kitchen. There was one for the office staff and one for the function. A message was sent in the OJT chat for the others to know. I signed the book late too.

    I spent two hours in the staffroom and felt tired. Heavy rain and dark sky like night. Went to the spec room and worked on the same Form 3 mathematics that I was reading yesterday. Still couldn’t get out the simultaneous equations. I had gotten so lost in working out some of the questions that I forgot about the staff meeting.

    Mrs Santana met me in the specialist room and she said that everything was getting ready for the function. She had the office staff print out a copy of the programme that I made last night for the first preview before running all the rest through the printer. I took a look at the copy with her and it was beautiful. She had the rest printed off and left to go see about something. I folded the programmes and headed off to the library.

    My bookstand was taken from home to school for the event. I had it set up in the office before taking it over to the library. A tenor pan was taken from the music room. Thankfully it was opened for me to enter. No one was there anymore. I gave Mrs Santana the programs on her way to the library. ‘GG’ and I went to the art room to get the T-shirts. Miss Gittens was having her nails done. A small issue with the arrangement of the room was fixed quickly. The performers came and students participating came too and the function began exactly at 1:30 pm.

    The function began with the National Anthem that I played. The student to do that couldn’t so I filled in for them. ‘Mel’ played “My Tribute” on his violin. Some of the other performances and items were quick. I was not nervous about the performance. I gave Miss Gittens the ‘clapping pen’ that we used in evening rehearsals to keep the pulse. Everyone began correctly and the audience enjoyed the dancing.

    Sometime after the function, I got the function cake from the kitchen fridge and then shared it with the performers first. Miss Gittens got her piece first. Miss Harris took half of Mrs Santana’s slice and Donna got the second half. They ended up wanting more and that dish was finished. From the office dish, who was there got. The teachers who wanted more got more and the last was given to Joshua.

    I washed up Mommy’s baking dishes in the kitchen when Mrs Santana came to eat her lunch. We had a good laugh talking about today and some things that happened.

Link(s):

• Images from Retirement Function. 
• Retirement Function– Mrs Joanne Rogers-Small (Programme,V2).
• “To The Ceiling” Performance. **

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:49 am – 4:13 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #37) – Day #164

Date for Entry: (Monday 03 July 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 07 August 2023)

[T3, W:12 – D:52, (Td:0)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning I came in the maxi alone to Valsayn. I met up with Mr Marlon on the way walking in while we spoke. I spoke with Mrs Santana and Mrs Rogers-Small when they came to sign in the office. I had breakfast in the kitchen. I took some time working in the ‘specialist room’ where I spent forty-five minutes reading from a Form 3 mathematics textbook. ‘Doctor’ came in late. There was no sign of Miss Chote around.

    Kiel and Isekel were in the office after I left to go to the staffroom. It was very empty in there. At 10:06, I finished cropping the images for my Project Runway Season 20 book. Many of them came back from the road race that took off about an hour and a half from the school’s commencement.

    I went back to the specialist room to transfer the image onto my laptop and fix the page numbering in the document before rehearsal could begin in the library. Chapters one and two were completed. Chapter 3 had to do. Chapter 4 has the majority of work to do before Chapter 5 comes this Thursday. I didn’t know when Miss Roberts came this morning. Saw the car outside around the fourth period. The Form 1 marks for this term were sent off by email last night.

    Around the seventh and eighth periods that evening, Mrs Santana sat with me and we finished the programme. She suggested that I put the words to the songs on the programme if I needed things to take up blank parts of the paper. Some of the images that she got from students were sent to me. I also found some on Facebook that she got via WhatsApp from me.

    The rest of it was finished on a ride to Curepe. We had a good laugh when Mrs Allen-Brown asked her question in the office. Very late in the night, the programme was finished. It was sent off to Mrs Santana by email for review.

Link(s):

• Retirement Function– Joanne Rogers-Small (Programme,V2).

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(8:06 am – 3:09 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #36) – Day #162

Date for Entry: (Thursday 29 June 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 01 July 2023)

[T3, W:11 – D:50*, (Td: Test Week)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning I came in the maxi with Sadie and Lenny, Form 1 students that I teach. I was happy that the driver was ‘Arthur’ since I hadn’t seen him in a while. Didn’t have time to eat. Got papers from Joshua in the staffroom and immediately Donna came into the goon and pulled out a beautiful bar of chocolate from her bookbag and gave it to me. 

    I went to put it away safely and went straight up to 2M since I was running a little late. Janice came in very late and asked which class she was scheduled to supervise and whom to look for. I told her that I did not know. I saw she had a nice ream of letter-sized paper for the exam.

    Miss Gittens came up to the upper floor to see if the students were all right. She stayed at the back of the class until the last ten minutes to do something. Three girls and one boy remained last. The boy submitted before the last two minutes of the full-time. Thankful that I had my staple machine with me. They had origami to do for the exam.

    On my way down the stairs, I met Janice in 2F to hand her the Form 2 exam papers. It was nice that some of the students were happy to see me. I met some students trying to find the girl that lent the class her scissors to do origami. Luckily, she was in the front of the admin building and I was able to return it to her.

    Mis Roberts gave me a call as if she was in a hurry. She wanted to find out if I was coming to the office and not realise that I was in an exam. She and Miss Jones ended up chatting long And long about graduation and not having time for the students to rehearse. Both ladies walked out of the office and she forgot about me. I left the papers right there on my desk.

    I then had breakfast. At the same time, Jeanice left the compound with Miss Roberts and I was met by ‘Jeremy’ and Aiden. They came to ask if Miss Roberts was there and if the music room was open. I told them that she left and they would have to wait for her to get back.

    My purple pen finished today while writing in my school log. During the fourth period, Ms Coker (1M) met me and asked me to do the makeup test. When I asked when she would be available to do it, she said that she had to go to Merits. Did not even know that they were going to have the merit awards ceremony today. Mr Bains had already come to talk to Mrs Allen Brown about the letter from Mr Hains’ father which I got a copy of from Miss Gittens.

    The girl came back and did it after recess. I took the time to draw for the fourth episode of Project Runway. Crystal got some time to look through my two books and I graded the exam paper. I was very proud of what I drew. Ms Coker got 68 out of 70 and the mark was transferred to the mark sheet immediately before I forgot.

    As soon as the student left, I saw ‘Varry’ and some of his classmates helping ‘Hodgie’ into the office. Apparently, some boy decided to tackle him. Not sure what that meant. I soon learned that it was ‘Mr Smiles’. As they waited, ‘Varry’ stayed back with ‘Hodgie’. ‘Varry’ came close by to see what I was doing. I got to share my Project Runway season 18 and 19 books with him since I knew he likes to draw. He taught me about layering. I tried it and that was very helpful. The colouring did not take me long at all to do.

    Lunchtime had finished and I did not even realise. Jeanice gave me a particular kind of look as I was walking out the door. I tallied 1M Visual Arts scripts and two for 1L. On my question, Miss Gittens said that marks were to be entered into the mark book tomorrow. We also had practice after shuttle duty. We ran through the song five times and that was all. Mrs Santana helped me carry back the pan stand and took me to Curepe. Aiden and ‘Jeremy’ were still in the music room.

    I had study sessions with Uncle Ram and Aunty Anmarie that evening a little later. I came home very late and was sooooo exhausted. We started at 7:28 pm that evening and ended at four minutes to 9:00. The show started and the introduction gave me time to pull the chair, music stand and small table together to start recording the full show. I got my data form out at the first commercial segment.

Link(s):

• Project Runway 20 – Episode 04 Sketch & Entry.**

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:50 am – 4:36 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #34) – Day #154

 Date for Entry: (Friday 16 June 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Friday 30 June 2023)

[T3, W:09 – D:42*, (Td:01)*].

Dear Diary,

    I sat in the front seat of the maxi and we drove off immediately. There were two Georgians in the back that walked in with me. The driver was “Christian”. I met Mr Marlon in the office and then an issue with exam student accommodation early in the morning occurred. I got Crystal to help me print out copies of music for today’s Father’s Day lunchtime function.

    I did not have breakfast until after class. I went to the music room and waited. The students took longer to get to the music room because it had religious education for the first period that morning. I did not even have the entire second period too because ‘Tia’ came and interrupted the session for five long minutes to talk. I had less than thirty minutes to complete the homework. Seth was the first to come in that morning and he got to hear me practising part of the “Thank You For Being My Dad.”

    As soon as the students left and the others were coming, I met up with Saskia and she asked IF Miss Roberts was there. She said it would have been nicer if Miss Roberts gave me the topic to teach them instead. When I asked why, it was a nice compliment.

    I returned to the office and helped Donna with stapling some of her Spanish exam papers. We went to the staffroom to do that. I took the time to sightread my music. I didn’t even get the time to practice the music well for the next few hours to come. I got help from Mrs Sawh to get help from a prefect to supervise the exam.

    Some minutes just before lunch in the fifth period I got ‘Reuben’ to help me carry the pan stand and a book stand. We carried it into the library and got it set up. Miss Jones and I met a second time after meeting during recess time about setting up the laptop to her speakers. I had a test run of the song from the Musescore file and it was fine. At 12:30 I met the prefect (Sajid) outside f the music room and told him that in case one shows up by 12:40 that he can leave for the rest of his lunch.

    I returned to the library while everyone was waiting. My performance went last and Miss Jones had described it as the grand final performance. It was very nice of her to share the progress of working on the steelpan arrangement. There were several mistakes made throughout the piece but I continued as if it was a UWI jury. It made me realise too how long I did not play music.

    I returned the book stand and everything myself after the function. I was free and did not see Miss Panchu in the Block K staffroom when trying to visit her. I waited a long while after school fixing up last-minute attendance that I did not do. Luckily, Mrs Santana did not leave school and she took me to Curepe. AB and the big ‘Buss’. We spoke again about some more of the songs for the farewell function for Mrs Rogers-Small.

Link(s):

• “Thank You For Being My Dad” – Perf. Recording.**

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:39 am – 3:22 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #32) – Day #145

Date for Entry: (Friday 02 June 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (June 2023)

[T3, W:07 – D:33*, (Td:04)*].

**Sunday School Sign

Dear Diary,

    Two Georgians came with me in the maxi this morning. I walked in with Kiel behind them. We spoke a while getting into the compound. As we spoke about how the term was shaping up, including the meeting that Miss Roberts was in a hurry to set on Wednesday for today, we saw the red car parked up in the car parking area. We had a good laugh about that. I did tell him about the meeting that was supposed to happen today and he seemed surprised.

    Getting into the office there was a meeting between 1M Form teachers and a parent. That entire morning, I did not feel to eat anything. Daddy left hops and butter wrapped in foil for me. I also did not feel to be in the office at all. I took my bags and went to the staffroom. I spent some time trying to figure out a piece of writing I had found at midnight last night before falling asleep.

    Block K’s air-conditioning was not working so everyone was either in Block S’s staffroom or in the conference room. Mrs Santana spoke with me for a while and she did her work on the laptop. I had to go to the office for another bag I left behind. There was a very emotional hurt I endured before returning to the staffroom. There was another by the time of recess as I proceeded to read Psalm 35. Breathing slowly could not help so I played “Worthy is the Lamb” again from some weeks ago. It calmed me and I went up to meet Miss Gittens. We both walked down to the office.

    ‘Doctor’ was in the waiting area speaking with Miss Chote. She took Miss Gittens and me to the office and we waited a while. Eventually, Jeanice came, Miss Chote joined us and we had to wait for Miss Roberts. ‘Doctor’ had a lot of really nice music playing. Jeanine and Miss Briggs sat by the window away from the air-conditioning. The meeting went very well. Thanks to God for that.

    For the lunchtime period, I helped Miss Gittens with a sign for her Sunday School branch in Port-of-Spain. When the bell went, I had to go teach 1L. They were sent back to their form class because the listening exam for Form 5s was in session. The class was too noisy. My eyes began to burn after school. Miss Gittens after the shuttle when the four of us teachers limed in the staffroom, Miss Gittens and I coloured the words for the Sunday School sign. I worked on the tree but we didn’t have many colours to work with colour pencils.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(8:53 am – 4:28 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #31) – Day #138

Date for Entry: (Monday 22 May 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Sunday 04 June 2023)

[T3, W:06: – D:03*, (Td:02)*].

Dear Diary,

    I came to Valsayn in the maxi with Tyrell this morning. Three Georgian students were with us also. As soon as I got to the office, I did not have time to eat breakfast. Miss Roberts came into the office and signed. There was something that she said and left. I had an idea in my mind that I came to the classroom and the students were gone but when I went to the music room and she was already teaching.

    As I went out of the office my keyboard in my hand and my book for class Mr Warner helped me carry the keyboard. As soon as I opened that classroom door, the ‘idea’ became a vision because the ‘idea’ had come to pass. When We stood by the classroom door and looked into the glass window, Miss Roberts had already done me that evil. I took the keyboard from Mr Warner and told him to get his bag from class and join the rest of the class in the ‘music room’. I went back to rest the keyboard in the office and then return to the class.

    During the session, Miss Roberts took the entire class. There was a review of treble and bass pitches. The girls that don’t study couldn’t answer the questions. After correcting the homework, the tones and semitones game was done for the rest of the class. I sat there listening while I had the students fill out the same class attendance.

    I went back to the office after the class and took out my Bristol board to do some chart work. Did not remember to bring the markers so I had the sheets cut and drew out the pencil lines to write them out the next day. I had a sheet of blue Bristol board to do Key Signatures in Flats and Bass cleg pitches. The green Bristol board for Key Signatures in Flats and Treble clef pitches. I started to feel sick.

    Miss Santana had also forgotten to come to visit me to listen to the “To the Ceiling” arrangement that I did. Couldn’t get onto Miss Chote or the Principal so I left a message with Isekel and walked out of the compound. I held onto my umbrella and waited and waited. Not many maxis or taxis were on the road at that time of day. I got five drips of rain on my head and then after a while, a maxi passed.

    Daddy and I went to the stationary store to get some more sheets of Bristol board. That evening, I fought and fought to get at least one chart done. It took me ten and a half hours long to get the time signatures chart completed.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:56 am – 3:37 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #28) – Day #124

Date for Entry: (Tuesday 02 April 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Sunday 07 April 2023)

[T3, W:03 – D:12*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning I came with the Safety Officer and Dr Blandin in the front seat. When we got out, Dr Blandin went off speeding. The officer and I heard a loud horn and it was the principal. He got in but I continued walking. I didn’t see who the person was until they got into the compound. She knew how to mash that accelerator well. I loved the speed the car went off in. There was no email for the staff meeting today except for me hearing Miss Chote reminding the Safety Officer as I was having breakfast.

    That morning, I went to help Miss with the envelopes for the Visual Arts submissions that were due later this week. This was the second period after teaching 1M. She had groups of two sheets of Bristol boards stapled together. I took my yard tick that I bought that same morning and began to draw in the lines. There were eight of them.

    By the time I was finishing the fifth envelope, the second batch from 1M came in for the Visual Arts class. This was during the first two periods. I went to have a breakdown in the office and returned to do the last three envelopes. Miss had written in the heading in green ink and the rest were done by me. We realised that more envelopes had to be done later that evening when she wrote out the number of items that had to be submitted.

    I went to the ‘music room’ for 2Fs class. Then after recess was the staff meeting. It was long and very confusing in some ways. Some of the topics were the Career Day for the Form 3s and that they would be split into groups of six. They would have to move the Form 1s to Block K for classrooms to be used by the various entities coming into the school to speak to the students on Friday. We also learned that Parents’ Day for the Form 1s would be pushed up to tomorrow. I was not expecting that to happen. It got me more nervous.

    The Safety Officer tried to speak on the Bomb Scare last Friday but it was cut for a wildlife discussion. I thought that the snakes the other teachers were talking about were large ones. The meeting was side-tracked and wasted. All the teachers left the library and lunch for us was given until 1:30 pm.

    A Universal challenge came to me from Miss Patel while I sat in the staffroom to cool off. It took me less than ten minutes in all to complete this form in the staffroom and at home (about minutes to twelve). I had a video call from Andrew to go through some of the ties that he had for me to put on for Parents’ Day tomorrow. In my mind, I was shown a green shirt with black pants and a tie. I didn’t see which kind of tie it was so that was up to my choosing. Some of the students still were concerned about me getting to come to the meeting. I too did not know if Miss Roberts would do it herself.

Link(s):

• Students’ Class Behaviour Form (V2).

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:47 am – 4:39 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #26) – Day #114

 Date for Entry: (Tuesday 18 April 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 22 April 2023)

[T3, W:01 – D:02*].

Dear Diary,

    Mr Gross and ‘Smiles’ came with me in the maxi this morning. I had breakfast in the art room this morning. Miss Gittens gave me some money to buy her a pie. The lady in the “Breakfast Express” had sold out her pies that morning so Daddy and I went to the bakery place opposite Courts. Their cost went up a third time by two dollars. We had chocolate to share before my immediate return to the office.

    ‘Ms Gloria’ that morning walked me over to the ‘music room’ to open the door. As soon as I walked in, I was horrified at the disorganization of the classroom area. I had 1L coming soon and the room was not prepared for them. Miss Roberts was one minute away from the compound when I called her. Surprisingly she came early to school and we had two more rows to fix before the students entered the classroom.

    The students’ papers were returned to them and we received some of the questions. The same was done for 1F later in the evening during the seventh and eighth periods but they needed the full duration of the time. They were nosier than 1L. I did not like doing the class in the ‘music room’. The experience there was very uncomfortable.

    Before lunchtime, I was on my way to the art room. I had a nice chat with Mr Bains about the special mark book I made to share. He had moderation that same day and I supposed marks to enter as all of the other teachers were trying to do as much as they could. I got to reinforce Miss Gittens’ mark book and paper it in the copyright ream wrapper. I got her one of my adhesive labels to label the mark book.

    When school was done, I felt really tired. I left sad in a way sending off the children no matter the struggle they put me in because Miss Roberts said that she would be taking over the Forms 1s from me this term. I was very concerned because I don’t know how she would ‘tamper’ or work with them since we are way behind. I walked out with Daysha, Kiel, Crystal and Janice that evening after school. A very creepy man was harassing Janice on our way to Curepe. We spoke about that before departing our ways.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:50 am – 3:25 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #25) – Day #111

 Date for Entry: (Wednesday 29 March 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 03 April 2023)

[T2, W:13 – D:57*].

Books f Georges and St. Mary’s

Dear Diary,

    Came to school with Tyrell and we walked into the compound again. I shared the story of the Form recreations that I was doing. I had some of them printed by him also since it was the two of us in the office alone. I knew that today was the last day of school and that not many students would be there on the compound. I still gave whoever was there a chance to do something.

    On my stroll through the Form 1 classes, only ‘Bestie’ had her recorder assessment to do in 1F. She struggled and some of us helped her before she did the actual trial. She was not wanting to do the lip-sing after the hard try. I left for the other classes.

    There was a party for the clerk in the office. I came late after going through the three classes. We had sandwiches for breakfast. Everyone didn’t eat like me too as I heard them complaining. The sandwich was like an oil lake but it was good still. Had to be careful with the grease soaking up my clothing. I had a joke with Isekel that they brought alcohol to school in the form of cake. I took one scoop of ice cream. It was different to some of the cookies and cream that I had.

    As soon as the party was over, I went up to the art room to find somewhere calm to do work. They had a hard fete in the hall as fundraising for the graduation and graduation ball. I took the time short time that I had to fix the lettering for the pitches in the St. Mary’s College Song scores. Had to go back to the office to get the scores emailed to Isa.

    Sometime later, I got a ride out with Miss Santana and we spoke about a lot of topics getting through the traffic to Curepe terminal. She said that she would not be there tomorrow. Daddy and I met right there and we went up to Isa. He had an issue with one of the printers and tried to get the books printed. We spent two hours in the store to get the page printed and sorted. I also had time to complete my mark sheet there while waiting. Aunty Vangy took me to Dabadie that night for the holiday.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:47 am – 4:15 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #25) – Day #110

Date for Entry: (Tuesday 28 March 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 03 April 2023)

[T2, W:13 – D:56*].

**George’s Canteen pass

Dear Diary,

    One Georgian to come down in the maxi with me this morning. Students were going on a field trip. I saw a few teachers dressed up and got the trip also. Plenty of copies were to be done by Miss Mustapha and the science people. Yesterday she told me that she found the last batch of exam papers and she stapled them around 7:30 am. ‘Kelly’ saw me and asked me about her assignment grade. I told her about my pencil case situation and that I wouldn’t be able to tell until I tallied everything up.

    After having breakfast, I made a spin in each of the three Form 1 classes. Some of the students were done. I got one lip-sing assignment done that morning from 1L and 1F. Miss Patel met me back in the office and asked me about my pencil case. She said that she saw one and remembered seeing it somewhere here. As soon as I told her that I misplaced mine she said that she had it for me since Friday. Even she too mentioned that she felt the same about losing a pencil case.

    I remembered helping her carry the student’s books from 1M after their music exam to her desk on Friday but didn’t know it was kept for me. I felt relieved to have gotten it back. I had to search for the chair I left the books for her first. I went to the library from there to insert marks from the recorder assessment and lip-sing slips into the mark sheets from all of Friday, yesterday and the spin this morning. I had a lot of fun completing this exercise. Miss Jaikaran loved the logo I had made for my DAPHA projects.

    When I got back to the office, I had my timesheet filled up so that Friday would not be too much of a rush and I did not do anything for it during the weekend because of my pencil case misplacement. Later that same evening, just after lunchtime in the office, Jesse found me and asked that he could do his lip-sing assignment. I got my handle bag and went over to his classroom. He too was nervous being in front of the members present and had asked to use the private room to the back of their ‘classroom’. We had some issues with Wi-Fi but everything was okay.

When this was completed and back at the office, I met two students after some time. One was by ‘Anoushka’ from 1L and Miss James. I had a recorder assessment dome by Miss James outside of the library. When I asked about the lip-sing assignment she was not ready and I wished I had kept the slips that I had for her. She had to do it but would not be coming tomorrow when I asked.

    When school was finished, I met with ‘Anoushka’ and she sat near the café to do her recorder assessment. I had her help me carry the bookstand back outside. She laughed when she asked for her mark. It was totalled. She was also willing to do her lip-sing assignment and was still nervous and ashamed to do it in the corridor. She was comfortable doing it in her empty classroom. That was it after the marking was completed. I had a late-night baking cake and ants took over one.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:53 am – 3:55 pm) 

St. George’s College (Week #24) – Day #105

Date for Entry: (Tuesday 21 March 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 01 April 2023)

[T2, W:12 – D:51*].

**Exam Timetable

Dear Diary,

    This morning I had a long challenge trying to wake up. Had to finish the journal entry in my pocket diary for the events of yesterday for this music journal. Miss Leiba at my entry to the office this morning said that Miss Gittens would be absent for the day.

    I met Miss Roberts to sign early. She invited me to moderate for the Form 5 students. I could not remember the name of the lady coming to do the moderation. The five students had to play their solo piece, the scale used from the song and the arpeggio. This process did not take long and we had enough time to meet up with Miss Jones at 9:00 am for the Form 2 music exam.

    When I entered the class and stood before the seated student Miss Harris came in and said that she would be sitting in the exam with me. She did not stay when the majority handed up. I stayed back with Mr Jobe until he could finish. As soon as I returned to the music room, I set the exam papers on the desk but Miss Roberts said that I could take them to grade them.

    Before Leaving the music room, I took out my whiteboard marker to restructure the academic year of work for the Form 1s to update the materials/textbook that I made for them. The Upper 6 students were setting up the room to prepare for their moderation the next day. I had to ask Miss Roberts for an answer sheet. She took a blank exam and wrote out the answers for me.

    From the layout that I made for the entire academic year, she said that there was no festivity in the third term so there would not be a project. She said, “it would be up to [me] if I wanted to give them something and that would be fine.” She did not keep track of time so she was not able to tell me how many weeks there were in each of the three terms.

    While entering the office again, Miss Briggs had an issue with the Form 1 paper and images not being printed out. I took the whole night trying to fix what she did to the Visual Arts Exam that I had made and then fix the images she was not getting through with. I printed a copy from my computer and placed it into my bookbag to carry the next day.

    Today the Form 1s were not in school since they had a free/revise day. I took home the form 2 music exam and it took me four hours to go through marking and grading the full class. Sleep for me was after one in the morning. God, please help me to wake up in the morning.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:51 am – 3:36 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #22) – Day #96

Date for Entry: (Tuesday 7 March 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Sunday 19 March 2023)

[T2, W:10 – D:43 *].

Dear Diary,

    Came down to school with one nice Georgian. I still felt early although assembly had been called. I had my Lip-Sing Assignment marks transferred. Miss Roberts is to arrive in the office at 9:21 for her class during the third and fourth. Miss Chote came to ask me about the attendance and Punctuality form but I did not have the time to get it done yesterday. Sometime after recess, it was printed and she took it with a smile going into her office.

    During the fifth and sixth periods, I had some time spent with Miss Roberts going through the format of an SBA. I went back to my desk the Form 6 students came in late for their class and awaited the 1 student to do their makeup exam. I spent the seventh and eighth periods working on exams for the Form 2 students.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:52 am – 3:46 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #22) – Day #95

Date for Entry: (Monday 6 March 2023)

[T2, W:10 – D:42*].

Dear Diary,

    I came down in the maxi with Miss Briggs and Sadie with a parent in front of me. I had my pie quickly and went to take attendance before trying to fix the St. George’s Attendance and Regularity form for Miss Chote to use. She gave me about six pieces of information that she would need to use for submission to the Ministry of Education at the end of the month.

    It took me two and a half hours to fix the document on my laptop. Miss Chote was happy with it. I had some issues with lines in the table to fix and send to print. I did not remember to make a proper copy for myself. I was left with an accidentally made copy on letter paper.

    During lunchtime, ‘Kiesha’ came to do her Lip-Sing performance. She did not feel comfortable doing it. She said, “Sir, My mother said that you should just give me zero and be done after all the time that passed.” I understood but I still gave her the chance. Surprisingly, she said the classroom was empty at lunchtime and we had the performance marked in there along with six other students to compose the ‘audience’ required.

    After lunch, I had my first trial run with the notes exam with 1F. Everyone was finished by the end of the seventh period. I had three more Lip-Sing performances done during the final period. At 2:25 the exam papers were distributed and that was the end of school.

Link(s):

• Image of Form 1 Final Exam - Term 2 (2022-2023).

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:53 am – 3:32 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #21) – Day #91

 Date for Entry: (Tuesday 28 February 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 04th March 2023)

[T2, W:9 - D:38*]

Dear Diary,

    There was an early and clear road. The Maxi guy had some nice religious reggae music. I liked them a lot. The last one was good for steelpan but I did not know the name. We passed through the left detour instead of the housing side. “Blessing to See People” was the last song I heard in the maxi before exiting. No other Georgians were with me.

    I did not attend the assembly. There was good participation with 1M for the Lip-Singing assignment. I had a lot of slips filled out by the time I went back to the office. I also had to get my timesheet filled in with the BIR number and Trainee Number before handing it to one of them. Another Form 1 was in trouble again. Had a late lunch before going to work on the rest chart. I went to the dive-in with my brown table again to erase my pencil lines.

    In the last few minutes leading to lunchtime, I saw one of the Form 2 classes with their chairs outside and they were drawing part of the school. I learned it was called Painting in Air (‘En Plein Air’).

Link(s):

• Time Sheet & Rest Chart. **
• En Plein Air (Video).

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:51 am – 3:31 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #21) – Day #90

Date for Entry: (Monday 27th February 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 04th March 2023)

[T2, W:9 – D:37 *].

*Chart

Dear Diary,

    This morning the safety officer joined me in the maxi on the way to Valsayn. Miss Roberts finally came to school. I did not stay in the office for the morning because it was too busy. I decided that a chart for notes and values would be useful to assist the Form 1s with preparation for the final exam. I used my brown folding table in the office and then I had the erasing done outside. Last time erasing had t be done it fell on the carpet and it was hard to take out.

    This chart was half of one Bristol board sheet. I saved the other half for the lesson on rests. However, the lines for the rest chart were drawn and left for another time. I got a chance to see what 1F had to do for visual arts and tried it also. The concept was about good and bad energy. One page was done in pencil and the other was done in paint using complementary colours. I still have to research the meaning of complementary colours.

Link(s):

• Complementary Colours. **
• Image of Positive & Negative Energy Project. **

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:55 am – 3:32 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #20) – Day #89

Date for Entry: (Friday 24 February 2023)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Friday 17th March 2023)

[T2, W:8 – D:36*].

Dear Diary,

    I had a quick arrival on campus today. More parents and students flooded the compound or the same Parents meeting for Form 2s. The price of pies from opposite Courts increased. They were good. I had my second version of the Lip-Sing Assignment slip printed and cut.

    I had 1F later in the evening and we had a very performance. One girl had a nervous reaction. I allowed other students to join her as support. More reviews of Exercises 1 and 2 were done. A rubric was also created for the recorder assessment to be done later sometime in the term. I just hope that I have enough time to do that.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:56 am – 3:21 pm)