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What a couple of months: school reopened, marriages started in full swing, Biden got elected and Covid is coming back - hard!

Oh! And I won an award: The Meritorious Mention Award (story writing competition - SPELT conference). In fact, they even asked me to participate at the closing ceremony of the prestigious educational conference. I didn't expect to win, but I did. The prompt was to write an inspirational story from the classroom. I couldn't pin point just one, so I did what I do best and subverted expectations - and won. And for your reading pleasure, I'll put it up for you to read:


Teenagers are absolutely splendid

It’s no surprise the premise of teaching English Language allows for a deep dive into many critical issues facing our society today. Little did I know that the single most inspirational thing I could have ever have done for ‘my kids’ was to simply be myself.

By this I mean to be my raw, most genuine self. And with this came such an abundance of love and respect – whether it be a student presenting an abstract of me depicting what she sees in me, to another who produced a canvas with the words ‘Carpe Diem’ - my favourite quote of all time, to another who would text me suddenly two years later saying she had landed an internship at Dawn, to the cake brought in for me with the words ‘Queen of the Semi-colon’: all I ever thought I was doing was my job.

Unlike so many women in my situation who are separated and don’t have custody of their babies, I have never locked that injured part of me away from the world. It is an integral part of me; thus the issues of divorce, loss, grief, trauma, even domestic abuse and violence will sometimes make their way in, and the level of connection that ensues is unprecedented. ‘My kids’ would come and I’d listen. Just listen. That’s all I could do.

So I don’t have one specific story. My entire career has been a fine dance embodying a synergistic, symbiotic dynamic. When I look into the eyes of ‘my girls’ I see in them a reflection of my own children. Beyond the analysis of writer’s effects, of using commas appropriately and of learning fancy vocabulary, lies a world of untapped potential – a world I continue to seek to explore and unleash upon the world.


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