A Memorable Teachers' Day Celebration - 290808

I woke up feeling really tired. I had an eventful Teachers' Day.
Now that I feel more rested, I shall try to blog.

Eve of Teachers' Day Celebration (280808)
"Mrs Wong, Chester is still not home! He told my mother that he was staying back in school to finish up his Science corrections. It's past 6pm and i can't find him anywhere!" an anxious parent ranted, all in one breath.
You guessed it, Chester lied.
What followed was a series of calls to names that i could remember and frantic but futile search attempts on the part of the parents.
Cut the long story short. Chester returned shortly after. He had been playing with his friends.

"Mrs Wong, Chester told me that one boy in the class ganged up with some other kids in the school to beat him up! I want justice for my Chester! He had been bullied!" the same parent called up (yet again) shortly after and spouted
Unbelievable. Cos Chester isn't exactly an angel but the "bully" is an extremely timid boy.
Still, it was part of my job to investigate and be accountable to Chester's mum who demanded a meetup with me the following day - 290808 (Teachers' Day celebration)

Was terribly puzzled. didn't sleep well. How could i have not detected anything if what Chester had said was true???

290808
Arrived at school with tonnes of questions in my mind. Curious, yet dreaded the thought that such an incident happened and worse, instead of my well-deserved rest, i had to work extra hard on Teachers' Day.

It was still too early (7am) to catch the boys so i decided to work on my SA2 paper. Wanted to get that done before the day ended so that i could pass it to my HOD for final vetting. U see, if i hadn't, i would prob have to return to school during my one week break.

"Julia!!!!!!!!!!! Amelia injured her fingers!!!!! She's crying and bleeding very badly!!" my train of thoughts was interrupted by this beginning teacher who literally ran to my work station, screaming for me. Expect me to leave my workstation immediately and rush to the sick bay? I didn't.
"Should be another of those small cuts," i thought and closed the soft copy of my SA2 paper at leisure before moving over. Not that i'm not sympathetic, but i wouldnt risk leaving an important document unattended, revealing its contents and end up resetting the paper.

I FROZE. What greeted me was a pair of palms covered with fresh blood. Blood was oozing out from and trickling down Amelia's fingers. Amelia (who was usually a toughfie) was wailing, my principal was shoulder-hugging her and trying to comfort her and an EAS was trying to stop the bleeding and pain with a cold compress. I just froze at the entrance of the sick bay. I have never seen that much blood. My Principal caught my look. I guess i was pale.

"Julia, could u get a pail and try and clean up her palm?" my principal instructed.
i reacted.
"Pail? pail? what kind of pail?" i forced myself to think.
Believe it or not, the first kind of pail that appeared in my mind was those that the cleaners would use to mop the floor! =(
The next imagery was then a smaller bucket that the cleaners would carry around when they need to clean the classroom windows! =O
Almost wanted to run off and ask them for one!
How silly right? how could i be thinking of using a dirty pail to dress a wound?!!
I wanted to slap myself for even having those stupid thoughts.
Amazed at my thought process.
Tried to be calm and rummaged through the shelves in the sick bay.
Come full circle and finally found this silvery tray.
Steeled myself to face the pair of bloody hands and clean them up.
i winced at the sight of the wounds. my hair literally stood and i had goose bumps but still, I had to act strong (though my face was prob pale) for the sake of my traumatised Amelia. Now that i recall, i was trying hard to control my fingers, to prevent them from trembling! =O

So what exactly happened?
Amelia's poor fingers had been slammed by the AVA control room door. Unlike the normal classroom door, that was a really heavy door. some boys didn't want her in the control room (God knows why...) and decided to close the door on her. They didn't notice her poor fingers and wham, went the door. She screamed. The boys thought it was all play and continued to press hard on the door, with all the force as they could muster.
When they finally opened the door, what greeted them was what had greeted me.
Even though i am an adult, i froze, what more the kids?

My Principal then decided that we had to take Amelia to KK Emergency. I drove. my colleague accompanied Amelia. Throughout the journey, yours truly tried hard not the get lost (i'm really an idiot when it comes to directions), keep safe during that peak hour (7.10am) jam and at the same time, comfort Amelia.

Reached the hospital, followed the nurses' directives and zoomed from one room to another. Each time they removed the cold compress to examine Amelia's fingers, i wanted to squeeze my colleague. The sight of the badly swollen, bruised and bloody fingers was too much for me to bear.

The diagnosis after an xray, after two doctors' and one orthopedic's examination:-
Amelia had fractured two of her fingers. They suspected cuts and blood clog under her nails. Those could be the cause of the unbearable pain.
Remedy?
They would have to remove Amelia's nails, put in some splinters, examine the fingers for cuts and clog and then put the nails back (to protect the flesh).
OUCH!
I almost flipped when i heard that!
Tried my best to comfort Amelia who was literally crying non-stop.

After some 2 plus hours at KK, Amelia's mum arrived. She took over and we headed back to school. The whole time i was there, my phone rang non-stop. Amelia's parents called, school called and Chester's mum called too! i obivously wasn't in the right frame of mind to talk to her about Chester's case. I had an emergency on hand!

By the time we reached sch, we were dead beat. It had been only 3 hours since the beginning of the day but we were already exhausted. just imagine the mental processes that we had gone through!

Lesson learnt? Realised i cannot be an EBO. Thought i was strong but i was all wrong. literally cringed at the sight of blood. i wonder if i would have fainted if there was more blood and hence become an emergency, a hindrance instead of a help! =O

10.10am. It was supposed to be class party time. I didn't have the mood.
Still, i smiled and thanked my pupils for the surprise party they had organised and the gifts that they had so thoughtfully prepared.
Didn't have much time to mingle. Cut the cake and got down to Chester's case.
Heard from both boys.
To me, it was a pure case of miscommunication and mis-management of emotions. wrong notion of play.

Just when i was about to catch a breather and a bite, "Mrs Wong, Wang Yun is crying," someone reported. i then spotted my girl crying. Wang Yun is one unique kid. She's extremely quiet and reserved at school. She prefers to be alone and doesn't really speak. However, back at home, she's just like any other normal kid who chats readily.
Went over to her and after much coaxing, i realised she was tearing because she had been praised by the teacher who relieved me in the early hours of my absence.
I gather my excited class was too noisy and the teacher took Wang Yun as a positive example.
Wang Yun didn't like to be singled out.
Have always felt that we teachers have not been using enuff of positive reinforcement but have loosely been putting pupils down and reprimanding them way too frequently. It was then that i realised that not everyone respond well to praises. There are sensitive kids who may think otherwise. Very appalling.


290808 - Afternoon
My ex-pupils came to visit. i quickly tidied up my SA2 paper so that i could spend some time with them. I really miss them. They were such a sweet bunch. Three of them came over to my house for a short while and it was a good meetup. Miss them sooooo much, one of my best batches. Have been thru so much with them.

290808 - Evening
Had my Teachers' Day dinner. Honestly, given a choice, i would really have preferred to rest at home. Was so tired! Had to function and participate in the group games that i didn't really enjoy. Not my personalilty to be so "rah rah".
But the good part of it was, took a lift from my ex-boss. Glad to be able to catch up a little.
Still miss his presence. He's a fortress. =)

By the time i reached home, Adri was already asleep. I watched her and felt sad that I didn't get to spend time with my Adri the whole of yesterday!
One thought struck me:- I will never want to be in a position where i'll have to work all day and be available to my kids at an hour whereby they are supposed to be and/or are already asleep. I didn't even get to say good morning or good night to Adri yesterday! That bites...

I suppose Teachers' Day 2008 would be the most memorable.
Keeping my fingers crossed, I certainly hope there won't another like this.
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