MY TP DIARY --- ANGELA, THE LITTLE GENIUS

Hello steemians! I trust we all are doing great.

Well, it hasn't been my intention to prolong this particular post thus after the previous one. But my lil girl's account @angelas-world couldn't get approved on time. As we know, it's a general issue and it can be really depressing at times. It was a sensible thing to ensure her account was in good shape before making this intro to her. And luckily for us, the break came through just yesterday. I already hinted in the previous post that i would be making her preliminary intro here in my TP series, so here we go...


Ideally, teaching is a multifarious task that involves not only the implementation of the standard school curriculum content (i.e teaching), but also encompasses some hidden curriculum (you might call it moral obligations) aimed at building the entire person of students. Such hidden curriculum is multi-faceted, ranging from the obvious ones such as moral support and character formation to the often-ignored but essential aspects, prominent among which is hunting for talent seeds in students, helping lay a good foundation for them, and for as long as possible, groom them so they would have no hitches taking firm root in due course.


In one of the previous post on this series, I made special mention of one of my students, Angela. I remember saying her case was a story for another day. Lol! Well, without mincing words, I meant that to the letter; so here it is...


Angela is ten years old, a pretty little sweetheart who joined us (JSS1 class) in the term just gone. She is a bright student; talking of her class average could help paint her more appropriately, no doubt, but I have since learnt that each individual is a genius in some sense and class performance is way too mediocre and narrow a standard to measure this.

Angela is a budding little literary genius… Yes, I just said the words literary genius. I came to this to discovery by my habitual blend with the JSS1 class. How? Well, I do sit with them often, browse through their notebooks, textbooks, in fact, any sensible stuff I see them with in the class. At times they cluster and appear excited over something one might not readily guess. On such instances, my curiousity would moon of its own volition, and my legs would find their way to their midst to discover for my eager mind what the excitement was all about. It was in like situation that I discovered Angela, the little genius in my class.

How it happened…

Angela was busy one blessed morning with Esther. They shared the same desk in the class back then. They had little bottles of watercolor which they were trying to dilute to paint some drawings they'd made. I left my seat and drew closer to theirs. I observed them; they were decorating a little hand-made book with some flower drawings. When they were a bit done and I picked the book to survey, Voila! I discovered it was a storybook!

You remember those little mock-exercisebooks we used to construct back in school? Well, I do not know for you, dear reader, but here is how we did it:

We’d get unused sheets of paper – mostly from our notebooks; then we’d place them all neatly together, fold the little pile in two, then sewed or bound it in the middle with gum to give a miniature exercise book. That’s all. We were all set to go! Fun! Fun!! Fun!!! Drawings, songs, stickers… anything we so fancied could go right in there. Oh yeah, we were absolutely free to indulge ourselves to the utmost without the dread of chiding, and punishment from anyone – teachers, parents.

This exactly was what the girls had for their storybook. I flipped through the pages; it had a number of short stories “written by Angela and Esther” with illustrative drawings. A thrill ran through my being. My students have talents. Truly, they do! It’s the second I’ve discovered so far within my short stay with them, the first being the little artist, Emmanuel. He does beautiful drawings. I simply have a fondness for young talents…


By the way, I approached the girls once again at a freer time. Their storybook was beautifully decorated, complete with every information you could find in a published book: from cover page to copyright-note, publication information, acknowledgement, dedication, author’s note, table of content… in fact it was ready for market with a price tag right on it! Lol! Though Esther’s name was there, I can’t tell of her contribution, but I could tell the mastermind behind that handiwork right on the spot even without asking. And tell you what? That little head sure knows something in the making of a published book.


“You know what?” said I to the girls. “I love your storybook. I would like you to write as much of these stories as you can and by the end of the term I will collect, edit them, and see a publisher to have it published for you.”


Come, see a burst of excitement! I witnessed that awesome magic of motivation play itself out before my very eyes, for though I directed my speech originally to Angela, every student round her desk was asking if they could write and submit their tales as well. I leave you to guess my ready response.


You might be thinking my little promise was a mere flatter meant to excite the kids. Well, let me say you are absolutely wrong if such is your thought pattern. Again, you might think publishing a ten-year-old’s amateurish work absurd. Let me poison your thoughts and kill that absurdity right away with an instance: sometime last year my big sister was invite to a book presentation of an nine-year-old kid – yet another storybook by a youngster. My point here is, publishing a ten-year-old’s work is far from absurdity as some might think. In fact, it is one of the greatest motivations any growing child needs to explore her writing talents.


But some event led to a shift in my initial plans: Angela was nowhere to be found by the end of the term. She had been having issues with her fees which led to her constantly being driven from school till she could meet the requirement. Of course I never could tell the intensity of the situation until she unexpectedly vanished in the last weeks of the term, missing tests and entire exams.


I’m certain anyone with a heart and in my position would be grieved by this – so I was, wishing I had a seer’s wide eyes to see earlier the hidden state of affairs on her side. Perhaps I could have been of some help one way or the other. In one of those morose and pensive moments an idea struck:

‘Come on, bring her on steemit! It is the fastest route to achieve those short and long term goals you so envisage for her, you know? Ok, you find a good publisher now, who out there would read her works? We don’t have much of a reading culture in this part of the globe – partly owing to hardship – and that’s a fact. Excellently written and mature works here are even in want of good audience, how much would they care for an amateurish work from a kid?
Come, this is a digital age; right? Well, that’s the number one hub for modern readers – the web, a haven without boundaries… And steemit makes things all the more easier with its reward system. Just bring her on… and hopefully she wouldn’t have cause to suffer fee-drive again in her educational pursuit… Bring her on at once…’

So intense was the urge I waited with bated breath for resumption and when it eventually dawned, my little Angie was nowhere around. Two week into resumption, she made no show, and mere mortal that I am, I'd drawn the conclusion: her parents have withdrawn her! Unable to bottle the steam any further, I approached her ever amiable and obliging class teacher, Mrs Hannah Ndifreke, relaying my thoughts, and soliciting her assistance in reaching the little one. Her promise was doused with genuine concerns: she would consult the school admin the following day to fetch the parents’ contacts for me. She is a very emotional and caring woman, down-to-earth humble and gentle – Mrs. Ndifreke. I admire her no end.


I have no iota of doubt heaven itself was (and still is) at work in her case, for the very next day, to my utter amazement, my little obsession had reappeared from nowhere. It was obvious her class teacher had already reached the parents and met with a favourable response, thus, the return of child that very moment. I had to confirm this seeming obvious fact and thank the woman for her intervention. But here I was hit with the reality of some divine manifestation: her response was negative – she’d never called the girl’s parents; in fact, she hadn’t even seen the school admin yet!

Ah! What a turn out of events! Could one resist the acknowledgement that a greater force than one could reckon was at play here?

This child must be very special! She must be destined for greater things!

Yet I found myself musing on the parents’ courage; I mean that push that made them return their little one to the school despite the fact she’d lost all the term before. I must say their optimism is very alive and that’s simply good. You know it’s the perfect recipe needed to wade through bleak situations and we most certainly need good doses of it to survive our tough and unfriendly world. I believe too it’s the work of grace and their firm belief in miracles. You know miracles are never far off once a firm faith is present.

My prayer is that you too be an instrument in bringing about this miracle in their path.

Long story short, I have been able to meet with Angela’s dad about posting his little girl’s stories here on the platform. I’m glad that I got his consent, and I have created an account for little Angela’s stories, @angelas-world. She is too young to handle this sort of affair of course and from my little enquiries, it would be kind of an uphill task leaving the job to the parents as it seems they are not very conversant with the web.

So here is the plan:

The ultimate goal here is to train and motivate this child to develop her talents to the fullest. I know what lack of motivation can do and this is it: it kills destinies. I have almost been a victim, and it would be grievous and unpardonable to watch another young soul fall in the same ditch when I could readily help in my little way. So I will be running @angelas-world on Angela’s behalf and the little proceeds accruing will be channeled towards her educational needs. I had since gotten her two notebooks to use for her stories – she’ll write in one while I type out the stories in the other.

She has good drawing skills as well but I learnt she was in shortage of crayons/colours. I have since done the needful: gotten her a pack of crayons and some watercolour to beautify het art.
I would be posting Angela’s tales pretty soon, starting with her cute self-introduction. I hope you would enjoy it; but of course you must bear in mind it’s a ten year-old child’s tales and pardon their amateurish nature.


Let me end this with a note of solicitation: dear steemians, I need your kind support.

Let’s build this genius together.

I have never had cause so far to solicit assistance on the platform, but now I do, and I whole-heartedly implore your generosity. We all do need help at one point or the other in our lives. Thank you in advance for your support.


Please stay tuned and follow @angelas-world; her tales are coming shortly.


THANK YOU!!!

See you next on @angelas-world blog.