I became a teacher because I wanted to teach. That was the plan. I imagined myself standing in front of the classroom, explaining lessons, checking books and guiding my students in their learning session. What I did not expect was that being a teacher would sometimes require me to become a detective.
Over the years, I have realised that school is full of little mysteries. A pencil disappears. A water bottle suddenly belongs to someone else. When a student says, “He started first,” while the other immediately replies, “No, she started first!” Then there are more serious cases, such as missing money. Whenever money went missing, I could almost feel my detective mode switching on.
I would start asking questions. When was the money last seen? Who had it before? Who was sitting there? Who came into the classroom? Who noticed it first? Sometimes, the most important question was simply, “Who started first?” The funny thing was that everyone suddenly had a very clear memory of what everyone else had done, somehow, nobody remembered what they had done.
Then there was another kind of mystery that concerned me more. One of my students had not been coming to school for quite some time. At first, it was easy to think that the student might unwell or have some personal reason for being absent. But as the days passed, the empty seat became more noticeable. As teachers, we naturally begin to wonder. Where is the child? Is everything okay? Has the family informed the school? Sometimes, an empty chair can tell you that there is a story happening somewhere beyond the classroom, a story that we cannot immediately see.
But the most unexpected mystery involved a piece of paper hidden inside a wallet. It happened when one of my students lent his wallet to a friend. While the friend was looking through it, he discovered a folded piece of paper. Out of curiosity, he opened it and read what was written inside. It was a letter about me.
The letter had apparently been written back in May, during teacher’s day celebration. The student had written something about me that was, to put it mildly, not exactly the kind of message a teacher dreams of receiving. In fact, it was rather disrespectful.
But what made the story interesting was that he had never given it to me.
Instead, he had folded the paper and kept it inside his wallet.
For months.
I have to admit, when I found out about it, I had so many questions. Why did he write it? Why did he keep it? Did he actually intend to give it to me? Did he change his mind? Or had he simply forgotten about it?
His friend, however, did something I really appreciated. Instead of keeping the discovery to himself, he took the paper straight to the Guru Disiplin.
At least someone decided that this particular mystery needed to be brought to the attention of the adults.When the student was asked about the letter, he did not immediately want to admit that he had written it. There was denial, hesitation and that very familiar look students sometimes give when they suddenly realise that the situation has become much bigger than they expected.
Honestly, I wasn’t interested in embarrassing him. What interested me was understanding what had happened.
Children sometimes write things when they are angry. Sometimes they write things because they want to make their friends laugh. Sometimes they say things without thinking about the consequences. Sometimes, they write something in a moment of emotion and later regret it.
What made me feel unsatisfied about the whole situation was the fact that this wasn’t a letter that had simply disappeared into a bin. He had written it in May, decided not to give it to me, folded it carefully and kept it in his wallet. Somehow, months later, his friend discovered it by accident.
A message hidden in a wallet for months. That is the kind of story that could only happen in a school. Being a teacher has taught me that there are many stories, incidents happen in just a day.
You have to listen carefully to different versions of a story.
You have to investigate before making assumptions.
You have to figure out who started a fight or chaos.
You have to control your class and make sure it isn’t too loud.
I never applied for the position of detective. I became one anyway.
No badge. No magnifying glass. Just a teacher, a classroom full of students, and a never ending list of mysteries waiting to be solved.
That is one of the hidden jobs of being a teacher.
Aishah Jamal (aishahjamal.safmedia@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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