Diary of a Schoolteacher: Now for today's lesson: how my first girlfriend made me a better teacher [Independent.ie]
- Published: 14 December 2011
One of the most important things for all teachers to remember is that, from where we are standing, teenagers are alien creatures. A simple trip down memory lane is enough to bring this home for me, as yesterday, in a rare quiet moment, I was reminded of the time over 20 years ago when I was a third year, in the November before my Inter Cert, and my grandfather passed away.
Yet what I remember best is not the grief I experienced at this death in the family. What I recall feeling, back then when my grandfather had been mortally ill and then died, was the very public humiliation to my fragile ego of having gone out with a girl for the grand total of just five days.
On the Saturday after walking my brand new first girlfriend back from the disco, I had gone to kiss her and missed completely as she unexpectedly moved away. I never recovered from the mortification. By the following Wednesday, at 5pm after school, she had dumped me and gone to meet my replacement in the form of a rugby-playing fifth year, and by that very evening they were crouching, touching and engaging with each other.
For a brief moment, the present version of me remembered that skinny but relatively callous eejit I used to be and remembered once more what teenagers consider important.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
