In the spirit of Halloween and
all things scary, my first blog post is an ode to the very real, but rarely
mentioned, scary side of teaching. My scariest moments have an Australian
twist, which is hardly surprising considering where I live, and most tend to
involve animals. The old show business adage, ‘never work with children or
animals’, might just be appropriate in the teaching profession, too.
Unfortunately, it is a little difficult for teachers to avoid working with children!
J
My Top ‘Scariest Teaching Moment’
Picture this: a clear moonlit
night, about 40 exhausted seven and eight year olds tucked into their sleeping
bags, a circle of tents pitched in the grounds of our little country school,
embers glowing softly in the remains of the camp fire.
Our overnight camping adventure
had been a huge success. Earlier that evening, as the kids sat around the fire
singing songs, a koala had wandered through the circle of tents and climbed a
small tree nearby, seemingly quite content to sit and watch us and causing
great excitement amongst the children. Well, to be honest the teacher was
actually the most excited because she was a city girl and these country kids
were used to seeing koalas around their homes in the bush. Koalas weren’t an
uncommon sight in the school grounds but they normally slept high in the gum
trees during the day.
I sat enjoying the peace and
marvelling at the breathtaking display of stars that you really only ever see
outside the city limits. Poet Banjo Paterson’s words resonated, ‘and at night
the wondrous glory of the everlasting stars’.
And then I heard the noise. A
loud growling, grunting noise that made every hair on my body stand to
attention. Within seconds, all was quiet again. Being a panicker by nature, I
panicked. Was a child having a croup attack? I ran from tent to tent, shining
the flashlight, checking the children, feeling enormous relief that they were
all sleeping soundly, then pacing anxiously around the perimeter of our camp
and peering into the darkness beyond.
The noise began again. It lasted
longer this time, probably a minute or more. It sounded like a lion’s roar but
obviously I knew we didn’t have lions in Australia. My thoughts raced. Was it a
wild animal? Were we safe? Would I have to open the building and phone for
help? (Hard to believe, I know, but mobile and cell phones had yet to be
invented!) I ran to my teaching partner’s tent and woke her up, babbling about
growls and dangerous wild animals and croup attacks.
As soon as she was awake enough
to understand what was happening, my colleague was highly amused. Marty, a
farmer’s wife and veteran teacher, had lived all her life in the country.
“Have you never heard them
before?” she laughed. “Your dangerous animal is an amorous male koala letting the
lady koalas know he’s here! I thought everyone knew about koalas grunting
loudly in mating season!”
Well, no, clearly I didn’t. But I
do now. My top scariest teacher moment – being terrorized by a lovelorn koala!
Check out this short video to share my terror! :)
Check out this short video to share my terror! :)
