By SARAHI GARFIAS – Web Writer
Clarke Central High School Chemistry students learned the value of having a teacher when left without a teacher earlier this year.
“Wait, what?”
“The Bhattacharryya’s are retiring.”
My first instinct was to run, run as fast as I could to Mrs. Sukla’s classroom after I heard my friend say she and Dr. Bhattacharyya were leaving. I couldn’t believe it, I kept telling myself it couldn’t be true, why would they leave?
I was determined to go to her classroom the next day and demand an explanation. As I walked into her room, I was faced with the unsettling truth, she was leaving. I begged her to stay, I told her you can’t leave, you can’t leave me, you can’t let me face Advance Placement Chemistry alone.
She told me that it was time for her to go and that another teacher would come and replace her, but I wasn’t willing to accept her words.
I spent days thinking about whether or not to take the class and my disappointment only grew deeper. Although I was anxious and afraid, I decide to take AP chemistry because it’s the subject I love.
As the new school year came to a start, I was ready to meet the new Chemistry teacher, Dr. Hernandez. I arrived that day with an open mind.
Dr. Hernandez was accompanied by assistant principal Mary Thielman, who passionately explained how she missed teaching. Thielman reassured the class that this was a partnership and together we were all going to succeed.
I only spent two days with Dr. Hernandez, she resigned on Aug. 11. For the remaining weeks, our class was under Thielman’s care. As she taught I noticed that she saw chemistry in a different way. It was hard to accept change.
How could I? I respected and appreciated everything I had learned from Mrs. Sukla and I felt like it was all going down the drain.
I thought about dropping the class numerous of times. I remember telling my counselor how I felt and she asked me, can you bring the Bhattacharyya’s back? I knew I couldn’t. I had to accept that they weren’t coming back.
As the year progressed, Clarke Central High School principal Dr. Robbie P. Hooker continued to search for the right candidate to fill the position. Although it wasn’t easy, he found Mr. Claude Gonzalez, who began the school year teaching advanced and on-level chemistry classes at CCHS.
During the first class period Gonzalez apologized for all the inconveniences we had faced. He seemed very excited to be teaching us this year. He said that this was going to be a learning experience for not only the class but for him.
His main goal was to understand what we had accomplished during the last three weeks.The first project of the year seemed more daunting than exciting. I, and fellow students had to teach in front of the class.
I was very open about my feelings towards this project. I hated it with all my heart and Gonzalez knew that. He told me not to stress and that I was taking it too seriously.
As I observed other students teach, I slowly understood the difficulty of teaching. You have to engage the student and not bore them to death. You have to make sure that you’re explaining everything carefully. You have to be confident in what you’re saying and most importantly you have be passionate.
When it was finally my turn to teach, I didn’t quite know what do with myself. I had all these ideas flying in my head. My brain was telling me no do this, say that. I can honestly say that I tried my best, but I don’t think it was good enough.
Great teachers are hard to come by and after this experience I will appreciate the ones that I hold dear because teaching is much more than a simple task, it’s an eternal partnership.
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