By Nedburn Thaffe From mni alive

“I started out wanting to be an air hostess. I wrote one of those essays at school in my primary five years, saying I would like to become an air hostess. My teacher looked at me and said, ‘you want to be a maid in the sky?’ That was his reaction, and that knocked it out of me.”

For over three decades, Donna Hadaway Smith has been sharing a special relationship with the classroom.

It’s a relationship that often sees her spending countless sleepless nights marking test papers, drafting lesson plans, and thinking up creative ways to impart the next day’s lesson. But, it’s a relationship she would not have any other way.

“I love to see children learn, but I do more than just teach academics,” said Smith, who was selected on Saturday as the most outstanding secondary school teacher.

“Children gravitate to me as a nurturer; they come to me with their problems. I guess, because I have had so many bad experiences in my life, I can be there for them. I enjoy seeing them coming to me for love and attention,” she said cheerfully.

Unlike most educators, a career in the teaching profession was not what Smith had in mind while growing up in her home country, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

At first, she had her mind set on taking many trips in the sky, working in a profession that is often viewed as glamorous. She said it was the candid words from her school teacher that managed to knock some sense into her, and steered her away from that profession.

“I started out wanting to be an air hostess. I wrote one of those essays at school in my primary five years, saying I would like to become an air hostess. My teacher looked at me and said, ‘you want to be a maid in the sky?’ That was his reaction, and that knocked it out of me.”

From then, Smith turned her mind to the hospital wards, picturing herself neatly dressed in her nursing uniform; donning a cap and shoes to match.

As fate would have it, none of those dreams materialized.

Smith was already destined for the sweltering heat of the classrooms, the cacophonous sounds from a band of unsettling students, and the miserable dust wafting from a chalk-board.

Fresh out of high school, she took up teaching after spending some time in the field of business.

It was at her Alma Mata, St. Vincent Girls’ High School, that Smith got her first job. With only her CXC qualification, she taught clothing and textile for some time.

Eventually she earned a scholarship to the College of Arts Science and Technology (now University of Technology) in Jamaica to pursue a diploma course in Education.

After completing that, Smith went on to do her Bachelor’s Degree in the same profession.

On completing her studies, she taught at Dunoon Technical high School in Jamaica; then she went back to St. Vincent to resume work at her Alma Mata.

Smith later left her job to take up another teaching opportunity in the Turks and Caicos Island. She moved to the BVI in 1999, and has been teaching at Elmore Stoutt High School ever since.

“I would never beat a child”

Smith believes she has managed to stand out as a teacher because of the methods she uses to impact her children. She also does not believe children should be beaten.

“I would never beat a child. I don’t think you should beat somebody to learn; change your teaching method. Whatever it takes, don’t beat them,” she said.

“I believe that, if a child is acting out, there is a reason. Get back to the problem; see why the child is acting out.”

“I don’t send children to principal. (If) a child uses a bad word, you go and read your bible. Those are my methods. There are times when they get me hot, but it is not that you will get me over-board. And I pray a lot; I have prayed with children, and I have prayed for children.”

Smith further told BVI News Online that she has earned the respect of her students, who often gravitate to her for counselling and advice. But, while she often plays the role of mother and counsellor in the classroom, she is always mindful of the reason she joined the profession in the first place.

“My whole thing about teaching is that, when a child leaves my hand and goes out to the world of work, whether they get a white collar job or not, they must be able to fend for themselves.”

“I want them to be able to make their own money; I don’t want to see any of my children doing anything negative. After I taught you a skill, you going to tell me you couldn’t do better?” she reasoned with emphasis.

The educator, who said she is drawing near to retirement, also has a word of advice for young teachers.

“You have got to be in it (teaching) for more than the money. You have to have a passion for it. Love children as if they were your children. Think of everybody’s child as your child and, what you would want for your child, give to those children,” she said.

Donna Hadaway Smith teaches Clothing and Textile, Home Management, Life Skills, and Tourism at Elmore Stoutt High School.

Source: BVI News Online.

PHOTO: Donna Hadaway Smith | Image Credit to BVI News

For more on this story go to: http://www.mnialive.com/articles/celebrating-caribbean-women-children-gravitate-to-me-as-a-nurturer-says-donna-hadaway-smith#sthash.XGuqeUE3.dpuf