This afternoon, after reading my blog, I suddenly felt as if it was quite gloomy, due to recent entries. Wanting a more cheerful entry, I decided to write on my obsession with bracelets/bangles/all-those-thingeys-you-wear-on-your-wrist but since I had a class due, I thought I'd wait until tonight to write it. However, tonight I've decided to write about something else here..
A few weeks ago, while teaching my form 1 class, I noticed one of my students (Ariff) being a bit pale and having his forehead as if knotted by the way it was creasing. I tried to asked him quite alot of times if anything was wrong but he just smiled and told me nothing was wrong.
However, in the second hour of the class, I became more concerned as he was usually cheeky, but this time he was a bit quiet. I asked him again but still got the same answer but by this time, I was a bit suspicious so I just went to him, yanked his cap off his head and put my hand on his forehead. Not-exactly-much-to-my-surprise, his head was very hot with fever.
I promptly asked him to keep his things in his bag as I wanted to call his parents and send him home. However, to my surprise, he refused. Hah!!! His reason: He didn't wanna miss out on his lesson..
Of all things haha.. still, since he was already scaring me with his pale face, I sorta forced him to go home so in the end, he called his father who came to take him home.
Well, anyway, that was a couple of weeks ago.. what happened just now was a totally different story.
I had my form 3 class and we were doing exercises on Algebraic Expressions. The boys were being their usual cheeky selves, while only one out of the two girls had come, Sharina. However, a few minutes later, Aiman, the other girl also arrived so I just handed her the handouts.
A few minutes into the lesson, I realized Aiman was searching for something in her bag and when I looked her way, she asked permission to go down and buy bottled water. I noticed a few pills in her hand so I just allowed her to go, though I had realized she looked a bit pale. I thought of going down myself, but the guys were asking questions non-stop so I just decided to let her go by herself.
By the time she came back, I was teaching Sharina a particular question she didn't understand. Then, sudddenly outta the corner of my eye, I saw Aiman fall.
My first thought (or rather, what I had first hoped for) was that she had fallen due to the slippery floor (which wasn't actually slippery anyway). But then, one of the boys shouted, "She's not moving!".. and I started to panic!
Quickly going to her, I asked one of the boys to call cikgu Arun who was teaching in the next room and before I knew it, our class was swarmed with students from the other class.. which not surprisingly increased the panicky feeling that was already growing inside of me.
I mouth to the boys in my class, "
Ape saye nak buat ni?" but even they didn't know what to do. Luckily, two student from the next class were members of the Red Crescent Society so they were the ones who helped me. I guess they not only helped to calm down Aiman when she regained consciousness, but they also helped calm me down too hehe..
Before long, an ambulance had arrived and I gladly turned the job over to them. In the end, they took her to the hospital while we tried to contact her parents to inform them..
The guys in my class who had been told to vacate the room earlier were asked to resume the lesson, much to their disappointment I guess, and we just continued the lesson.
I, however, was left with this on my mind: Being a teacher isn't merely to teach. You are also a mother, father, sister and brother. You're a doctor when needed (so I guess I should really brush up my first aid skills, huh.. and try not to panic again!) and a cheer-leader all the way through. You're a motivator and a counsellor.. You ARE their bestfriend (as pointed out to me by my form 1 students in Bagan Serai.. waaaa, so sweet those guys to say I'm their bestfriend).. in whole, you are your students hero (unlike this certain teacher who panicked..), so I guess I gotta act like one.. but the question is, am I capable to do that?
