The English Sonnet

The most rewarding thing about teaching is when your learners surprise you. They take an assignment that you have given them and they run with it. I have been teaching my grade 9s the English Sonnet,its  structure, thought patterns and themes. I then challenged them to write their own sonnets using the same conventions. Below are two of the sonnets I enjoyed the most:

Burn My Heart By Lehlohonolo Dube

Your eyes compete with the sun's glare every day
questioning if later yourself would be the sun.
Oh how I'd watch you rise every single day
your brightness pierces me like a bullet from a gun
The sun is too hot for me to hold
although you are just as hot, you aren't as big.
you would make the perfect fit, truth be told
If my love for you is a hole, so on I dig.
But let the sun be for we can't live without it
as I can not be without yourself
to replace it you would become with it
but with you out of this world I'd be by myself
shine on, that is what you are meant to do
as forever you will burn my heart too.



By Keletso Nakedi

What better word to use than love
because it is all that you give
as white as that beautiful dove
you are all that I need to live
Your voice as deep as the base in that song -
the beat that is pumping at the pace of my heart
what could ever possibly go wrong?
 our love can never fall apart
oh yes my love for you will always grow
even with the pains it may come with
when you are in my sight my eyes will blow
your love only comes once like snow
I vow to love you as big as the sun
and promise you never to run.

Nearing the End

An old house builder who was approaching retirement was asked by his employer to build one more house before retiring. He had spent many years building some of the most beautiful houses ever seen and he was now tired. He did not put much thought into the materials he used and really just worked to finish the house so he could stop working for good.

Finally the house was complete and he was eager to take his package and rest.  To his dismay, the builder's employer handed the builder the keys to the last house he had built as a retirement gift ....

It's two days before we close school for a month long holiday and I am bushed! It would be so easy to just go with the motions and put in no effort. After all I can pick it all up again next term when both me and my learners are fresh and ready to work. But it is important even in the last few days of school to keep working hard because hard work now will pay off later. It's too bad this particular pay off won't be in the form of a beautiful  house, though ;)

How to Survive Exam Marking Season

I've been teaching for four years now and I still don't really have a handle on marking. Mark is the guy that has us procrastinating as teachers. Our houses are never cleaner than during exam season and we tweet and facebook more about the silly answers our kids give us as we mark. Not to mention gym. My muscles are cut faster now than they were doing before the exams. It's all coping mechanisms, really. I have some mechanisms of my own and they have proved pretty reliable.

Rule Nr 1: Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today. The biggest mistake after my paper is written is making up excuses like, I'll start over the weekend. It's not going to happen. Sure, you'll get started but by the end of the weekend, you will have marked about 5 scripts, 10 if you're lucky! So, on the day that your exam is written and they hand you that mountain of papers; START!! Which leads me to Rule Nr 2: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. In my first year of teaching, I used to lug my papers from my work desk at home to my work desk at school and get very little actual marking done. I then discovered how much easier - and lighter - it is to carry smaller packs! Commit to marking a certain amount of papers during the day at school, even if it's just 5 scripts, and another 5 when you are at home. Some days ( only some days) I feel so motivated about the work I've done that I do just a little bit more!

 Rule Nr 3: "I don't have time" is the grown - up version of "the dog ate my homework". When marking season comes upon us we often stop doing everything else in our lives. Gym takes the back burner,you don't eat properly. Your house is basically the equivalent of what your res room looked like when you were writing exams at Varsity. I find that I am much more productive when I am under more pressure. On a Saturday morning, for example, I will do the laundry and clean all the while marking. Relax gentlemen, I don't mean do it all at once! A load of laundry takes a minimum of 45 minutes right? Surely you can do 3 - 5 scripts in that time! That's 9 - 15 scripts by the time you get to your darks assuming you split your laundry into whites, colours and darks and do your laundry in that order ( I think I take laundry way too seriously!). By lunch time you can reward yourself with a shower or a snack! Which leads me to Rule Nr 4: Being organised leaves more room for spontaneity. Don't stop going to gym or socialising just because you have to mark. Instead, make the other things in your life a kind of reward for the work you are doing. If I have the whole day, I don't shower until I have marked a certain amount of scripts ( overshare much?) after that, I don't have a meal until I have marked another certain amount of papers. After say, 15 scripts I go to gym or that braai a friend invited me to ( even if it's for just an hour and I have to head back to the marking). Before you know it, you will find that you have covered much more work than you would have if you had put the whole day aside for marking.

To be quiet honest. I find the marking season rather depressing. It is during this time that you come face to face with your work and realise what your kids know or don't know. I can't spend too much time marking because eventually I just want to cry because sometimes it seems like they just don't get it. These rules have been very helpful for me. It's like chasing smaller deadlines and has actually made my marking a lot less rushed. Try one or two of these rules and tell me what you think, ok?

How it is

I can't believe we are seeing the end of January already. In many ways this new school is exactly what I was looking forward to. My focus is solely on the lessons I prepare and the various additional duties I have. So far there hasn't been a dull moment.

For some reason, I was expecting smarter children here; kids who would challenge what I know, but I'm learning quickly that kids are kids are kids. Sure, these new ones have iPads and speak fluent English, but they, just like my previous kids, mix up parts of speech and figures of speech; the need is the same.My fear in that regard has been eased.

I wish I had the ability to separate my personal life to my work life or rather, I wish I could base my happiness on the success of just one aspect of my life. If that was possible I really would be the happiest person in the land ( yes, exactly like a princess).

I hope I will resolve to this and at some point be happy.

New Beginings

Last year I not only ended my third year in my teaching career, but I said goodbye to  Leap Science and Maths School...

Part of me is so excited for a new work environment that will no doubt bring with it new challenges.The other part of me is sad to say goodbye to this group of learners. We've been together since their grade 9 year and I would've loved to see them through their final year in high school, but as my friend always used to tell me, every year there is a new excuse to stay just a little bit longer and so it is important to go with your initial gut feeling.

I will always be grateful for the opportunity Leap gave me when no other school would take a second look at me without a qualification. It is here where I gained  my confidence as an educator and also where I became brave enough to accept that I will never be good a good enough teacher. I will never arrive. It's important to feel like this because our children deserve teachers who always strive to be better than what they already are and changing schools is the best way I can do that.

And so I look forward. To new children. To new colleagues. To new teaching material. The future is blurry, but is it ever clear in reality?

Obituary of Moena Abrahams

Moena Abrahams was born on 18 March 1950. She was the youngest and only daughter of Suleiman and Sies Mariam Abrahams. She began her primary school education at Buckingham High School and went on to matriculate there. Moena stayed at home after school to help with the family business. She fell in love and married Pretty-Boy with whom she had three children. She died during a strike where was part of a stampeed. She is survived by her husband, three children, her parents and her three older brothers. Rest in peace Onse Moena.

Diary entry - 08/ 03/13

Dear  Diary

Visits with my dad are bittersweet. I hate that I have to lie to him. He thinks that I run a boarding house! If he found out the truth, he would be so ashamed of me. The Butterfly and the boys from Winsor Park  all did such a good job putting his party together and also keeping secret safe. I can't imagine why he has never said anything about it, but the only important thing is that he comes to visit me every year.