First Baptist

First Baptist Christian School

Have I told you this story before?  The day after I returned to Canada following a year in Vietnam, I received an email asking if I’d be interested in teaching computers in the Cayman Islands.  I replied immediately.  I was interested.

Three days later I was interviewing for the position of IT administrator and computer teacher for both First Baptist Christian School and Montessori by the Sea. I accepted an offer the following day and began the rigorous process of applying for my Cayman Islands work permit (requiring police checks, HIV screening, references and more).

Amidst the hectic preparations I had little time to savor the flavor of the oft-repeated words I was forced to eat.  Despite my adamant insistence that I would never become a teacher, that’s exactly what I was becoming.

My parents took every opportunity they could to laugh at me.  For the most part I shrugged it off.

But here’s the part that would be even more embarrassing, were I the kind of person who was easily embarrassed: I’m actually enjoying it.  Yes, even when I have 22 kindergarten students in the computer lab, some crying, others clicking their computer mice incessantly and at random, with never fewer than half a dozen of them shouting my name at once.

In my classes (which range from kindergarten to grade 8), we’ve designed web pages, held team typing contests, ripped apart floppy disks, and will hopefully start making short stop-animation movies with digital cameras before Christmas break starts in just three weeks’ time.

Since Mr. Durksen is obviously my father’s name, my students call me Mr. Brent.  I find it’s a nice balance between informality and repect.