Niggles Cartoons and Nigel Spaven bring us just an ordinary day in the working life of a teacher. Another in the series of cartoons featuring Mr Carter…(click on the images)*
Mr. Carter arrived early today at school. It was the return to school after the long summer holidays. He always enjoyed meeting his new class for the first time. But first he had a lot of work to do setting up the classroom after the long break.
As he looked down the long class list, he smiled as he mused over all the different classes he’d taken over the years. How things had changed. The classroom no longer had blackboards, chalk or inkwells on the desks, and the pupils dressed so differently. Even their names had changed so much – out with Edith, Hilda, Norman and Herbert and in with Paris, Brooklyn and Aspen. Hmm, confusing when taking a geography lesson, perhaps.
He spent most of the first morning getting to know his new class and going through the house rules. He wrote out timetables and lesson plans.
Before lunch was their first ever maths lesson – basic arithmetic, adding and subtracting sums. He watched as the kids concentrated, their eyebrows furrowed and their tongues sticking out. They nearly always counted on their fingers at this stage, but he was keen to teach them to work without the aid of calculators or computers.
There were always so many different characters in the class: the daydreamer staring out of the window and picking his nose; the chatterboxes and gigglers, the angelic ones and mischievous ones, the forgetful one, and the one who would always be late.
At break time he wandered out into the playground to see how they were getting on. A small boy approached him and stuck out his foot. “Will you tie my laces Mr Carter†he said.
“I will but what’s the magic word?†Mr Carter replied.
Quick as a flash the small boy answered “Abracadabra!â€
Mr. Carter couldn’t help but laugh too.
After lunch it was spelling and vocabulary. Mr Carter liked to teach a new word every day – how to spell it, its meaning and in what context it could be used. Perhaps the kids could teach him a bit of ‘text speak’ too, he thought: LoL, OMG, GR8..?
George, a small blond-haired boy on the front row, turned and said to Harry, next to him, “I can spell my Mum’s name!â€
“Oh yeah? How do you spell it?â€
“M-U-M†replied George.
“That’s how you spell my Mum’s name too!†replied Harry.
And with that, the school bell rang for home time. How fast the day had gone and how nice it had been to be with the kids again. Tomorrow would be a whole new day!
*Clicking on each of the cartoons gives a bigger, clearer image and does Mr Carter justice!
More at:Â www.nigglescartoons.co.uk
