Well, I did it. I survived my first day in the classroom. It went pretty well. A lot better than I expected it too. I admit, I was nervous this morning after I had woken up. I left the house a lot earlier than I should have. It was a hour and a half before class started as I was approaching the GCA Trades Academy's Barrigada Campus. I drove past the building and went into Happy Mart down the road. Bought some breakfast, returned to the building, and started setting up the classroom.
Let me tell you. When I opened up the front doors to the building, and turned on the light. Four figures on the 2nd floor scared the daylights out of me, after I had turned away from the light switch and looked up to the 2nd floor landing. My survival training kicked into high gear. I was quick enough to stage my knife and move to the ready. I realized those figures were nothing more than the life sized poster mannequins wearing PPE and carry tools, that used to be at GCA's conference room, at the main office. After, my assessment, I calmly returned my knife to it's sheath. I am so glad that I didn't bring my gun with me. There would have been four dead poster mannequins...still smiling, but full of .40 caliber holes. I had to sit down and calm myself for a couple of minutes. I thought I had walked into an ongoing burglary.
I really need to congratulate Bert, our Education Director, on his brilliant plan on relocating the mannequins from the conference room to the Trade's building. Yeah, they do look nice up there.
Anyway, back to the classroom. After moving my gear to the classroom. I then tried to set up the room to make it comfortable. The AC was nice and strong. But really cold. Should have worn my long sleeves. The classroom that I was using is on the 2nd floor, next to those life size posters. I rearranged some of the tables, set up my laptop and books, and ate my breakfast.
After I had set up my classroom, I went downstairs to warm up outside. The building got cold really fast. In the parking lot, I met Samoan Joe, one of my Safety Instructors. He was glad to see me. He asked me if I was teaching and what was my topic. I mentioned that I was teaching Basic Safety. His advice that morning to me is to walk them through the subject and everything will be fine. Samoan Joe is one of the top safeties on island. He's currently the Safety Compliance and Training Director at Black Construction. Joe was on the schedule to teach Field Safety today. I'll be seeing him at the NAVFAC 40 training next week.
While waiting for my students to arrive in the classroom. Frank was one of my first students to walk in. We were classmates in two Core Classes, when I was taking core curricula. He was surprised to see me and to know that I was his instructor. That was funny. As students from other classes arrived, word spread that I was in Classroom 3 teaching. A lot of my former classmates came up to wish me luck. Even another Safety Instructor Cris, came up and gave me a wave. Cris was my instructor for Field Safety, just weeks ago.
Frank asked me if he can test out. Of course, I agreed. At the Trades Academy, we give pre-tests for each course. This allows the students who know the subject to test out. For those who don't pass it, the instructors use the pretest to assess the needs of the students and it helps guide us in the direction the class needs to move forward. Frank was the only student out of 7 that passed the Pre-test and performance test. The other students will be with me for the duration of the course. But, the Learning Still Continues.
Once, I started the class. The seasoned trainer in me took over. The students asked questions which I answered. The discussion was lively. It was fun. Two students: Candy and Aaron, know the subject really well. But didn't pass the pre-test because they changed their answer to a couple of their questions. If they had left those answers alone. They would have tested out.
During the introductions, I surveyed my students. Not one of them is going into the Safety Field, even though there are a lot more job openings. That's okay. Two of them are going into HR. One student who just started the Core this year, and this is his third module, has not decided what field is going into. Yet another student is leaning towards electrical.
Class went fast. A lot faster than I had expected. I was still wired from being in the classroom. I didn't even drink iced coffee this morning when I arrived at the building. I had lunch with some of my former classmates in the warehouse. We had a good talk about being safeties in our new career fields. 3 of them are taking my suggestions to finish up fast.
Before leaving, I met up with another instructor of mine. Tony teaches Basic Rigging and HVAC at the Trades Academy. He was the first instructor of mine to suggest that I change careers and move into the Safety Field. He was laughing hard when I told him that I was teaching that morning. He called his current students over and introduced me to them..and suggested the same thing to them. What he had suggested to me 4 months ago-go to safety.
After getting home this afternoon, I went straight to bed and crashed out. I was exhausted.
ESTA
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