I always
had a literature teacher that made me conclude William Shakespeare was not only
a blast from the past but probably speaking to himself in his books. For introduction
I am a millennial. William Shakespeare and i are obviously from two different
times.
My
literature teacher visits the classroom three times in a term. The First was to
introduce the Shakespearean novel we were going to be reading for the term with
an assignment which we never scored above 10 over 30. It was part of our assessment.
The second
time is probably when it is time to mark those assessment and she decides to
remind the class how much of a “block head they were” and lastly was during the
exams to remind us of how bad we all performed.
My
literature teacher was bad news!
We had students
who scored between 50-60% and who were very happy they did. Scoring high in literature
to us was a Gordian knot. I loved storytelling and couldn't understand why I couldn't hold down this subject.
While in
my last year in college, something remarkably happened. Our English teacher decided to take us Literature.
Only then did I realize how amazing a pen-smith Shakespeare was.
I was
blown away with his works and simply mimicked his style of writing which in my
own words were in a class of its own. Construct a love letter in Shakespearean
words and you are in a class of your own. Maybe the closest word to call you
would be a GEEK!
My score
in Literature steeped and I simply
considered being a writer and studying law a career option since they were both coursers my dexterity in literature was going to leave me with or so I thought.
But the
question is what really happened?
My English
teacher, how would I forget her name MRS Ogushola noticed the poor performance of her best students in English language and decided to
show us the Movie Twelfth Night. With the aid of a projector and in one NIGHT
STANDING in a crowded room, she demystified what took the former two years to never
explain. The whole class left the venue elated and marveled at the thoughts of Williams
Shakespeare.
We all had to go dig into the books to read the content and
borrowed most of his words.
Years
down the line I know it like I know my name that there are differences between teachers
and the better still remains the one who demystifies the Myth.
As we grow up and become adults I beg to
differ that the responsibility lies on the student to take the learning in her hands irrespective of who the teacher was. Should
you ever venture into the teaching profession be it virtually or even to your
children, always explore options of meeting your Students half way.
