Page 152 - Herioter 2020

Mr Tyler: this

is your life…

Eleanor Donkers, a pupil in Mr Tyler’s
P7T class, imagines a morning in her
teacher’s life.
The Looney Tunes theme song blasted
through Mr Tyler’s ears, making him leap
out of bed in fright. ‘Every single time,’ he
moaned. Don’t get me wrong, he loved
Looney Tunes, but being woken up every
day by the same song does something
weird to you.
He showered, dressed, ran downstairs,
grabbed a piece of toast in one hand
and his rucksack (full of jotters which he
should’ve marked last night, but, well, Eleanor Donkers takes the strain
there was rugby on the telly) in the other. his eyes found a boy. Mr Tyler used to Pupils go the
‘You should hear the kids in my class let this boy suggest things very often,
complaining about the weight of their but now he tended to avoid letting him extra mile for
bags and their poor old backs… but mine as it usually had something to do with charity
weighs far more than any of theirs. It Greggs, books, or something completely
basically has the contents of the kitchen irrelevant to what they were discussing.
sink in it,’ he muttered. Well, it’s verbs, and he had seemed to be Herioters showed resilience of a different
kind by taking on physical challenges in
He stumbled down the hallway and paying attention, so he had to let the boy June to raise money for charities. Jack
kicked open the door, grabbing his keys suggest something. ‘I got off the bus,’ Clayton (P5) set himself the challenge
with his teeth, tripping over the mat, stated the boy simply. He bit his lip to of running three kilometres every
and then pulling the door shut with his stop himself from exploding: ‘got’ was a day of the month to raise money for
foot. He checked his watch. Crikey! He banned word and he had specifically said, Edinburgh Zoo. Two S5 pupils, Sebastian
was late, the bus would surely already ‘don’t use the BANNED words’. Morawiecki and Hamish Woods, were
be at the stop. He launched himself into He had even gone to the lengths of sponsored to cycle 160 miles for the
an awkward run: step, step, bite, repeat. putting the list up on the promethean. He Edinburgh Marie Curie Hospice. The
He rounded the corner and the bus stop took a few deep breaths and then told the boys split the distance over two days,
was in sight. He slowed to an attempt boy that that verb was banned. ‘Think of cycling 50 laps of Arthur’s Seat in the
at a brisk, professional walk, but failed another,’ he said. The boy obliged: ‘I dove process. Meanwhile, S6 leaver Kyle
miserably as he missed his mouth for the off the bus.’ At this, the class, who had Thomas set himself a target of cycling
fourth time this morning. He scrambled stifled their laughter at first, burst into 250 miles in two days, raising funds for
into the queue for the number 10 and peals of giggles. The lesson was lost. Foundation400.
waited… and waited… and waited…
Mr Tyler was flung out of this memory by
The number 10 was late again for the a jolt and a squeal of tyres. He was at his
second week in a row. Mr Tyler was now stop and quoting that boy, he ‘dove off
in a foul mood. This bus better have a the bus’. He walked a little way until he
good excuse! And then a glorious sight lay reached the terrace where he showed his
before him: the number 10 had decided teachers’ badge and continued on his way,
to show up – 20 minutes late. He hopped dodging cars, pigeons and dive-bombing
on, briefly showed his bus pass and sat seagulls. He trudged up the stairs and
down (on a window seat, the best in his into his classroom, thumping down on his
opinion). As the bus wound in and out extra-super comfy spinny chair. He had
of streets and avoided running over the made it in before the children. Just as that
people laying down a new traffic island, his thought popped into his head, he heard
mind wandered to the language lesson he not so quiet whispering. He checked
had given yesterday. his watch: not quite 8.15 yet. Without
It was all going fairly well. He was teaching getting up, he yelled, ‘Either stand on the
verbs and he wanted P7T to come up with landing quietly or go outside!’
verbs to describe an action they do every Oh, why was he still doing this?
day. He was scanning the classroom for
anybody who hadn’t said anything and Eleanor Donkers (P7)

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