Since today is my birthday, there is always room for some introspection. For some reason, I always remember my preparatory school teahcer Ms. Ancheta. Talk about teachers leaving an indelible mark...she surely did on me.
To lay out the background, I attended a Roman Catholic school run by nuns for all my primary years. In those days, strict really meant STRICT. Even for a bunch of children just right out of being toddlers.
My class was noisy. What do you expect out of a mingling of 4 and 5 year olds? Our teacher had just stepped out and upon coming back saw us in a complete disarray about our homeroom. I guess I was particularly exuberant and more importantly, I did not notice her presence. "Donna, sit down." I froze, took a slow turn and scurried to my seat. Ms. Ancheta was shaking her head. "I told all of you to be quiet." There was a hush in the room. She then proceeded to make two circles on the board. And added circles for eyes, circles for ears and so on and then came up with two faces. Under one face, she wrote my name and underneath the other, her favored pupil's name. She further illustrated, "See here, (she drew an arrow going into the ear of her favored one) when I say something, she listens. When I say keep quiet, it stays in her head (and proceeds to draw a straight line blocking the exit off the other ear). Very good (favored one)." And then she moved to the next face. "Now, this, Donna, what I say goes in (drawing a similar arrow through my ear) and yet it just slips through and out the other ear (drawing an arrow going out my other ear). This is not good. If you do not learn how to listen, you will never learn." Ouch! I felt that I was diminishing by the second. It left such an impression on me.
But Ms. Ancheta should see me now. I proved her wrong. I have learned...even with selective listening.
No comments:
Post a Comment