My experience for this week, reminds me of a few people who have played major roles in my life.
Mr Salami, My Further mathematics teacher back in the days, that man drilled me….I still owe him a lot. Also I remember with nostalgia, the moments I spent with Amaka my friend, mentor and sister from another mother. She’s one of the few people who made Mathematics interesting for me…in between her tutorials, we would talk about other unrelated issues and it made the lesson stick to my brains because I was always going to remember those incidents. She hasn’t relented in her role anyways. My Aunt Ojel, made me develop an inner love for Literature, I remember those days back in school when I was always one of the best in Literature. Being a Science student and the best in Literature was a big deal o!….all the credits go to my Aunt, She brought out the best in me. And of course my mother who has imbibed all her lessons in me, people call me my Mom’s mini. I hope to have her listening ear, caring disposition and wonderful sense of humour. Uncle Dubem, who has been the big brother figure, melting away all my fears and always believing that I can do whatever I set out to do. I have just been thinking a lot lately but I have loads of relatives and friends who inspire me, so in this week I have sort of tried to give back to the society what has been given to me. To me, to give back is to live a happy and fulfilling life.
It all started two weeks ago, Martha the coordinator of the summer school at the WaveCrest College approached me to take a few classes during the summer school, I had mixed feelings. I love to teach though I don’t see myself as one of those teachers I described above. Anyways, I accepted to take Further mathematics and Physics for SS2 and SS3 females. Yeah, it’s an all-girls summer camp and I am very passionate about females embracing sciences and mathematics as fun subjects rather than seeing those courses as monstrous. I started on Monday, and on our first day I taught them Matrices. Wow!!! my students are smart chics, they were following the class and I was over-joyed. There is nothing as depressing as teaching and your students won’t be responsive. I gave them homework to do…Of course I bombarded them with plenty exercises*evil grin*.
On day two, I met Martha and She was thanking me for making the students serious…I didn’t quite understand where she was coming from. She said the girls told her they stayed up until midnight to get my assignment done. I felt butterflies forming in my stomach….the feeling I had was indescribable. So I have turned this chics into “bat woman” like myself 🙂 . When I entered the class, they were so cheerful and had smiles extending from one side to the other on their faces. I noticed that my class increased by one. I asked the girl to introduce herself, and she did but she was quick to notify me that she was just here to partake in the class that she heard my classes were interesting but she isn’t interested in further math. My head searched for ways to assuage her math fears, I asked why she didn’t like further math and she said she didn’t like the “Further” in it. I knew I had quite a role to play here, I told her the story of how I disliked Mathematics in my junior days in secondary school(high school) but in my senior secondary I had to join the Further Math class and I was bad ass 🙂 . She promised me after the days class she would decide and think about it. After the class, I asked what her opinion was and she said yeah that’s if I would keep teaching her….nawa for this chic o!!! I said yes, during the camp I will keep teaching her. But she added after the camp 🙂 ….then I had to come up with my own “I’ll think about it” phrase. I told her to take my Skype ID and email address to email me whenever she had issues. Something in me just told me, Sommy did you just sign up a mentee?…I really have to make time to follow up on this chic just like the Bible says there is joy in heaven over a repentant sinner than 99 righteous people. On the day five, we had a more relaxed atmosphere, and after the class I stayed back for two and a half hours to discuss with my new friends. . I almost split my gut laughing. These girls are super interesting.I think in life, one has to set apart time to reflect or think about things…discussing with these young girls catapulted me back to my teenage years. I had a more listening disposition and we had random rants from school work, to their aspirations, and the opposite sex.
On school work matter, I shared my own experience on how I study and how some of my friends who excel study too. We analyzed why they didn’t do as much as they had expected in some courses and corrections were made. I really hope they would put all those into practice. Then on aspiration, we talked about balancing school work and talents. I encouraged them to read 7 habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey. Then on the opposite sex, I taught I knew much….this chics know plenty stuff for their ages. There were words I didn’t expect to hear from them. They gisted me about their boyfriends etc… I was SURPRISED about their stories. I had to tell them to make the right choices and never to bend their rules, how to be virtuous women and never to do anything they’ll regret 10 years from now. This got me thinking, lots of young girls need someone to share their experiences and thoughts with. They need an understanding persona. Some of us might have been lucky to have mothers, aunts or older friends we shared our thoughts with during our teenage years. But I think we need to make the atmosphere right for these young girls to come up with such issues. Don’t rebuke them when they tell you something or start screaming at them. That would scare them and they would NEVER share their experiences with you. NEVER! This past week I have spent with the girls has been fulfilling and enlightening….I am NOW getting attached to them…but I have to leave. I hate saying goodbyes and with tears forming in my eyes, I said to them….See you in the future. I pray that God will bless their efforts, protect them, and use them as instruments for change. May their good dreams come to fruition in Jesus name, amen.
Now, I’m on a new adventure….I will be blogging about that soon. I hope my sleepless nights, hard work and prayers will be worth it at the end of the day.