Duty Week

I'm on duty at work this week. I oversee everything from morning till after school. It's great that I do not feel so much dread being on duty this year. Why? Because under me are 7 teachers, and I know for certain that I can rely on 5 of them to do their jobs well. The burden is shared and I worry less. This, for me, is a great feeling.

Last year was a horrendous year, whereby, all the problem teachers were dumped into my group, including the vicious woman I was referring to in my last post. Unintentionally, according to Vice Boss as he was the one who assigned the grouping.

Intentional or not, there was none who was reliable. I complaint right after being on duty for the first round, but Boss advised me to persist and to work on "developing" these problem people. In the end, I think I developed heartache and stress more than anything else.

I tasked people to be to keep watch at the gate. But for the first time in the history of the school, the gate was unmanned. The discipline teacher came and informed me, "Nobody at the gate!" he said, flustered. I had already known it. But what could I do? People were scheduled but they did not turn up.

I tasked people to come early to help out before the morning roll call. Never mind that they came late, I could not even see the tiniest bit of initiative to come a tiny bit earlier.

All these uncommitted people drove me to rely on myself the whole of last year. Subsequently, I went to the gate every time I was on duty. I asked other teachers who were early to help me do this and that, and they had always been gracious. It was me, myself and I the whole way through. No wonder I was drained out by the end of the year!

Boss had tried to help me out. He had gathered the problem people and coached them to be more effective. Well, they were - like for a day or two. And then they reverted to being their old problematic self. Didn't they say a leopard can't change its spots?

My other colleagues could only look on with sympathy. Even the canteen operator empathised with my predicament, and commented on the sorry state my teachers were in.

Well, I'm sure glad that I lived through the nightmare last year, and I made it a point to have a say when Vice Boss assigned teachers in groups for this year. Because of his unintentional inequal distribution of teachers, I suffered the whole year. So to make up for it, Vice Boss indulged me. I chose whom I wanted to be in my group this year. ;)) And so, I retained a problem male teacher, added a non-performing female teacher, and chose 5 others whom I could rely on.

This week, a young female teacher was tasked as the group leader. Her first time, she told me. She's scared, she said. But I was adamant that she took up this opportunity, and she did. She's not the assertive kind, but I can see her taking the initiative to lead. I coached her and communicated with her what to do, and so far, her response had been very positive. This morning, she handled the morning roll call, and I am so proud that she did a brilliant job. She was slightly embarrassed when I praised her effort, though.

Well, it's only the end of February. The school year is still a long winding road ahead. I count 5 more rounds to be on duty for this year. But as long as I have my people, I am ready to take on any challenge.