The beginning of my first Novel
While I was ironing my clothes last night, a scene kept playing in my head. Vivid dialogues were exchanged between two fictitious characters in my mind as the hot metal plate straightened the waves on my clothing. As I ironed away, another character came into the picture. Listening to myself speak the thoughts of these ‘characters’, I suddenly thought to myself, “hey, this would make a good novel!” and began to immediately pen my ideas.
For so many years, I have always concentrated only on writing non-fiction materials. Nonetheless, I have thought of writing fiction books before but have vowed to only write those with deeper philosophies embedded in them.
The last time I attempted a fun fiction piece was when I was 14. This does not include the fiction essays I wrote for my GCSEs though.
Speaking about GCSEs, I got disheartened once. I had produced a creative piece at school. When I submitted my creative essay for marking, the teacher threw the piece back at me saying that she did not believe it was my work. However, it was! After burning the midnight oil day after day, that was what I got – rejection. I was told to re-submit another essay “of my standard”. These were the teacher’s exact words. Mind you, this was not my first experience of racism in that school and it was definitely not the last. But like what people always say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
At the end, I did submit another article “of my standard” (or rather, HER IDEA of what my standard was), which was in no way creative at all. Its quality was far inferior than the first piece I had attempted. Guess what? She took it! As soon as I submitted the essay, I walked out of the classroom door. I just could not be bothered to attend her class anymore (for that day, at least).
Maya Angelou said that “people will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Absolutely.
Teachers play a huge role in a child’s life. Your students will remember you for life.
Looking back now, that woman was just another person who taught in a school. Her role in that school automatically earned her the title “teacher”. But was she really a “teacher” in the purest sense of the word? Is this how a teacher should behave? Should a teacher not inspire his/her students to perform their very best instead of undermining their capabilities?
Because this incident made me feel dejected, I always remember to never repeat her mistake with those who study with me. Whenever a member of my team came up to me and asked me if an article should be written in a certain way, I would usually tell them to surprise me. Although it was obvious that some were not ready to produce certain research articles, I never discouraged them from trying. It is through trying that one learns. If I were to follow Ms N’s footsteps, the weaker students will forever be producing negligible research articles because only these are “of their standard”.
Nonetheless, I also had awesome teachers back then; teachers who knew how to motivate students to do better. Though only a handful, a few teachers who taught me really did motivate me. My IT teacher Mr. French, with his bubbly attitude, never failed to make me feel comfortable in expressing myself in my work. Though I never really liked Chemistry, having a teacher like Mr. Pluck really did help motivate me in studying for the subject. I loved Biology and Mr. Baird really made the subject fun. I will also never forget Ms. Isaac who taught us General Knowledge. I was in Blue House at that time and I had entered a debate competition. She had asked me before if I would move to Yellow House and be on their team instead to which I had declined. Thinking back now, I probably should have. There were also other really inspiring teachers in the school whose names I have not mentioned because they never taught me personally. I had another knowledgeable and friendly IT teacher in A-Levels, but I cannot seem to recall his name (though his face is very clear in my mind) because he had taught me only for a short while before I decided to leave the school.
Another teacher who will always be in my heart is Ms. Margaret Lloyd from New Zealand. I will always remember her kind eyes. She was so caring and meticulous that she remembered I was in love with Hong Kong. Once, she had organised a creative essay competition in class. She rewarded me for writing that piece about the comical life of beings from another planet. Beneath that wrapper was a book on Hong Kong. I was in complete awe as I unwrapped that gift. I still keep that book until today. Now how many teachers would remember a child’s senseless expression of her love for a country she had never visited? Not many. But she did.
I am a strong believer in hard work and I am of the view that a student’s effort should be recognized. Before jumping to conclusions about whether or not the work belongs to the student, one must always investigate first. Students, when guided properly, can always produce miraculous results. If education is not headed towards progress, then what is education for? There is always a chance that a weak student today can transform to become a good student tomorrow. If the purpose of education remains true, there is no such nonsense of producing any piece of work that is reflective of ‘one’s standard’ because everyone’s standard should be increasing every day!
It was because of my past experience that I am able to now empathise with what some of my current students are going through. A student of mine had recently written an excellent essay, which was a far cry from what she was writing in the past. The teacher refused to acknowledge her progress and hence told her that she did not believe that the girl had written the essay by herself.
Did it come as a surprise to me when I began to observe the student’s motivation to do better spiral down after that episode? No. This is sheer common sense. Positive reinforcements have a great role to play in the world of education while negative demeaning remarks, in my opinion, serve no purpose at all.
Is education dead? I don’t know. Perhaps it is.
Regardless, I hope everyone who has ever studied any subject under me will bear in mind that other people’s perception of you does not reflect who you really are. Even when the whole world tells you that your work is not up to anyone’s standard, hear none of it. You must first believe in yourself before anyone can believe in you. Why let them pen your story? It’s your story. Be as creative as possible. Now write it!
Love and light,
Genevieve
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