The year? 1979.
Scene? The outer western suburbs of Sydney.
Occasion? I was starting big school.
Emotional state? Ecstatic!
Yes I remember it like it was just
yesterday. I made the walk to school with Mum and my siblings. My shoes were
shiny and stiff. And when my eyes fell on my new teacher, I instantly fell in
love.
Miss Babos. She was tall and pretty and
reminded me exactly of Agnetha from Abba.
She spoke softly and never yelled. She was
the perfect kindy teacher. And of course, because I was the tallest, you can
find me in the back now, right in the middle looking like a stunned mullet.
We would work hard all morning and after
lunch, we all pulled out these little mats and had a 20 minute nap to refresh
ourselves for an afternoon of art, craft, dance and music.
Could you imagine
someone insisting you have a little siesta every day?
Why, I just didn’t appreciate it at the
time.
The only thing I didn’t like about Miss
Babos was that she chose me to be the Donkey in the end of school Nativity Play
when I really wanted to be the Angel. That role went to one of the little
blonde cuties. But I did like the fact that she recognized my balanced personality.
(Even if I was a boy…..)
The thing about my primary school time is
that I could name every teacher I had through to year 6, all those years ago.
Here is me rocking the 2nd grade with a haircut that looks like a
sloth crawled up onto my noggin, found a comfy spot and fell into a deep, deep
sleep.
Can you guess where I am?
The little girl in the front row, the one
with the ribbons? Well her parents owned the corner store and I desperately
wanted to be friends with her as to share her bountiful lunches. But she was
not having a bar of me.
My year 6 teacher, Mr. Holloway was a tall,
lanky sort of a bloke with a very quick temper. He would call us doofus and
dunderhead, while occasionally throwing chalked up dusters at us. But he was
fun. He wore a big hat every day, a bit like Bob Katter’s hat, and would drill
us on mental computation until our brains exploded.
Years and years later, I got this in the
mail.
I had managed to convince my university to
put me in charge of children learning stuff! So I ended up being a group of
kindy kids version of Miss Babos, in 1995. Except I was way more inept having
just turned 21 and had started seeing a strapping young man whose surname was
Woog…..
Teachers are a special breed. Their
dedication, care and commitment always astound me. I quite often go past the
Woogettes School on the weekend and the car park is full with teachers having
meetings or preparing lessons. Sometimes I wonder if they realize the lifelong
impact they can have on a person.
I know they have certainly had an impact on
me.
Do you know an exceptional Primary School Teacher?
OfficeMax
is on the hunt for Australia’s most dedicated primary school teachers!
Ten
of them from across the country will be recognised for going above and beyond
the call of duty, and rewarded them with a surprise event, $1,000 worth of
OfficeMax arts, crafts, stationery and office supplies and an Apple iPad for
their classroom.
Anyone
can nominate a primary school teacher by visiting adaymadebetter.com.au
Entries close 14th June!
Do you remember your kindy teacher?
