Valda Green - contributed
MRS. Valda Green was not only a teacher at Old Harbour Primary where she has spent 31 years, she was also "The Teacher" who strived for discipline and high academic standards among other values.
It was not by chance that Mrs. Green, the daughter of Miriam and Sydney Walters, became a teacher. "I chose to be a teacher because my parents felt I should be a government worker. And, in those days only nursing, teaching and postmistress jobs were opened to women in Jamaica," she recalled.
Valda also recalled with pride that she was the first student in 18 years to leave from Pearle Hall School to go to a teacher training college. After graduating, Valda taught at several schools: Park Hall Elementary, Red Hills Elementary, Cassava River Elementary and Old Harbour Primary, over a period of 43 years!
She was always quick to help in any venture that would uplift her school and community. "I saw everything which revolved around teaching as important, so I jumped in and played my part," she said.
It was because of Valda's maturity and dedication that she was given remedial groups to teach and the job was not always an easy one. "There were times when I had to buy books and pencils for students to get their work done. (But) The many games we played together made the relationship great. Up to now I like to play bingo because it was one of my favourites. This helped in word recognition and stepping stones for word recognition," she said.
"I would want to think that every child in my class could achieve his or her goal by working diligently," she said.
Valda feels students today are not as disciplined as they were say, 40 years ago.
An ardent church-goer, Valda is still choir secretary at the Holy Trinity Anglican Church and assistant secretary of the Old Harbour Garden Club.
The students she taught and parents of these students have nothing but high praise for her.
Gary Palmer, past student of the Old Harbour and St Jago High Schools, and now studying abroad often sends money to buy her a gift on Teachers Day.
"Mrs. Green is caring to every student and she has certainly taught me self confidence which has helped me to achieve success abroad," he said.
Courtney Ellis, a registered pharmacist, claims that "Much of my present professional success is largely as a result of the direct outcome of the quality of parental and clinical supervision and care delivered to us while students in grade three."
Another student who speaks highly of Mrs. Green is Christine Johnson-Kavanagh. "Mrs. Green has transformed the lives of many Jamaican scholars. She has consistently displayed some outstanding characteristics, some of which have been indelibly stamped on our lives, these I will cherish and always try to emulate," she said.
Now 73 years old, Mrs. Green has been able to sit back and enjoy the memories of her teaching. "I talk a lot about my students and I love to hear from them too," she said.
