This week in Reading Class, I read to the children a story called "To Bounce Or Not To Bounce". It's a small book written by a Kuwaiti Author Naif Al-Mutawa. It's a very nice book that sends a simple yet very clear message of acceptance- of others and one's self.
This book has won him an award for International Understanding and an award for Children's Literature in the Service of Tolerance.
I really enjoyed reading it, and so did the kids!
After reading the story, I started a discussion with the kids on how each one of us has his own unique strengths and weaknesses. No one can be good at everything, or bad at everything either.
I asked them to think of one thing they are very good at and share it with the class, then think of one thing they are not so good at and share it as well.
I started, telling them that I was good at running, and sucked BIG time at singing- as in, if I start singing now they'd all be running outside the classroom!
For some reason, the kids found that hilarious and BEGGED me to sing (naturally I vehemently refused- I needed them IN the classroom:P)
It was fun hearing the kids' answers (both boys and girls, since I give reading to both). In one of the boys' classes, most of the boys said they were really good at "fighting". How scary is that, eh?
A lot of girls said they were good at cooking, which I found weird since I was under the impression kuwaitis never enter the kitchen! So it was a happy surprise for me.
One boy simply said: "I am not good at studying and school"- poor fella! Talk about low self-esteem. (But come to think of it, I did sense some pride in the way he announced it!!)
There was this one girl whom I've noticed since the first second of the first lesson I gave them. It was hard not to, when she keeps talking and jumping and has absolutely no respect for classroom rules- but in a cute kinda way!
She said she was good at gymnastics and wasn't good at math. Then she went on (without invitation) to describe how she feels inside the math classroom.
"I don't hear anything the teacher says," She shared. "I keep imagining myself jumping and running (at which point she actually started demonstrating this!) and thinking about what I'll do when I go home and what will my mom have prepared for lunch and what I'll be playing at home."
At that instant- I completely forgot where I am and that I am the teacher. THIS GIRL WAS DESCRIBING MY CHILDHOOD. Especially the part where you imagine you are jumping and running- I STILL DO THAT. When I'm forced to sit and listen to a lecture I'm always daydreaming and picturing myself JUMPING over the desks and out of the room- free to run with no worries!
"Oh my God I KNOW!!!" I exclaimed, "And you just want to jump and keep running and running, right?".
Obviously, that wasn't the reaction the kids expected from me- THE teacher!! I looked around and they were gawping at me, disbelievingly.
I quickly got back to my senses and tried to salvage things with a very lame "Daydreaming? food? jumping? running? shame on you. SHAME on you woman":P
hehehehe
Who made me a teacher again? and WHAT were they thinking!!!
6 comments:
LOOOOOOOOOL.. Oh my God. Even though I concentrate in classrooms, this fantasy of running and jumping stays with me. Till today, I can't sit still. I concentrate, but I'm the most fidgety person you'll ever meet.
Oh, and speaking of voices, I sent you a link you should definitely check out. Mashallah.
Oh, and this was such a lovely post. Enjoyed it immensely. Yella ta3ali. Although I will really miss your posts while you're here :P
LOL
Has being in the same country- more like in the same HOUSE- ever stopped us from e-communicating?;P
Oh and that link you sent was "blocked by Quality Net"- what the heck did you send? astaghfurulla:P
I'm still waiting for that email telling me what clothes to bring! :D
Oh yes, I'M COMING;)
oh, and you have no idea how fidgety I get- NO one makes the mistake of sitting beside me in a lecture twice! (cuz it starts innocent enough with me being fidgety but after a while I become agressive and start pinching and punching the person next to me:P HATE to keep still!:D I guess I take after you Oh Big Mighty Sista;) (man I made you sound like a monster!!! I really meant it as a compliment- oh well:P)
Love ya!
hahaha, oh my god...
Your entries are hilarious. At least you maintained some semblance of civility by not joining the little girl jumping and running around the classroom (although I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that that's all you wanted to do :P)
LOL
Man, you know me TOO well. TOO well, I tell you. You have NO idea... it took EVERY ounce of self-restraint I have to keep myself still:D now I'm all out of self-restraint... jumping around the house like crazy! well, at least it's in the privacy of my own home:P
If I can't act crazy at home, where else can I?;)
Hi Maryam
Thanks for using my work in your classroom. If you get the chance please check out my latest work at www.the99.org about The 99-the first group of Superheroes based on Islamic Culture (not religious).
The concept has been written up positively by the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street journal, the Guardian and other global newspapersers (see press area). It has also received an award from Brazil.
Best,
Naif Al-Mutawa
Hi Naif!:)
I will most definitely check The 99 out- sounds really interesting. Thanks for the tip:)
Do you know, I got my copy of "To Bounce or Not to Bounce" that I used with the kids quite a while back, when I was still in school myself! I was taking a course in Amideast and you visited, talked about your book, gave us copies and signed mine with a: "Mariam, be yourself"!
I have been doing that ever since.
Again, great work.
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