Category: Teaching

October Boooos

October Boooos:

October in corporate environments were hectic for different reasons (buckling down towards year-end goals, planning for the next year’s goals, keeping an eye on the market for seasonal trends prior to holidays, elections, and whatever the rest of the world wants to do.)

October in schools is hectic for different reasons, as I am coming to learn.

We have settled into the rigors of the curriculum, but the children are distracted with a hundred promises of candy, halloween, field trips, fund-raising and all the rest of it. “That’s the nature of it. “ I hear veteran teachers sigh in the staff room as they know in the midst of all this activity and excitement is also the expectation to have the report cards ready.

Candy Marches & Spirit Weeks

So, they march on bravely inducing the children to take on fractions to gain a candy salad on Halloween, or to answer a tough question with the promise of a small halloween treat from the treat bag.

The children, for their part, play along with everything. It really is fun to watch them come to school with ridiculous hair-dos for spirit week, lounge in pajamas, play bingo with math, create puzzles with social studies, and do science experiments. Somehow, the teachers make learning happen through it all, as I learnt on our field trip.

Museum Visits

We had been to the Oakland Museum to catch a live performance on the Dia Dos Los Meurtos (Day of the Dead). It was a wonderful performance with the artists calling on the children from the different schools to come and participate in the program on stage too.

Afterwards, we were free to explore the museum’s history, art, and natural history sections.

The boys seemed inordinately interested in spinning their fortune wheel during the California Gold Rush and seeing what they’d get.

  • “Man! I die of cholera!”
  • “I want to strike rich!”

Some of the boys were most enamored by the bean-bags near the entrance of every floor. They begged to flop on it from various vantage points and tried to see the world from there (upside down, sideways). I tried telling them that the bean-bags weren’t actually exhibits and were only meant for a short respite after roaming the remaining sections. But they good-naturedly ignored this.

We bundled them all up and came back to school only to buckle up for non-stop Halloween fun today.

Learning Goals

I have always respected good teachers, and having a close view to how they do it all has only increased that feeling. They try their best, keep learning fun and alive, and hope it all sticks. Sometimes, it does, sometimes..well, the children only want to play with the bean-bags.

Did you know about Mawsynram?

The first rains of the season were here last week.  I shook my umbrella out and let the children dash into the classroom well before the bell rang. 

Mawsynram – not Cherrapunji

“Thinking of folks in Mawsynram?” I said, smiling to a girl who was looking for a place on the carpet to set her wet umbrella. 

She gave me a big smile. The kind of smile that lights up at the recollection of something we had learnt the day before. 

The previous day we had started a new unit on water. After learning about what it takes to be an ecologist in Yellowstone National Park, we were setting our sights on water.

“We are going to be hydrologists!” I said, trying to enthuse the class into learning about water. They moaned. I groaned. “Must you kids moan for everything?!”  

“Yes!” they chorused. I ignored this and set about infusing enthusiasm into the class. “Today, we’ll go to Mawsynram – the wettest place on the planet. All the way to India!” I said. Though, even as I was saying it, I remembered answering a general knowledge quiz as a girl: “What is the wettest place in the world?” “Cherrapunji!”

Apparently, Cherrapunji relinquished its spot to Mawsynram a few decades ago. A fact that would have been cause for much excitement in the younger me. But these younger ones were waiting for me to go on and I did. 

The lesson went on – an interesting article on how folks in Mawsynram clothed themselves in full body raincoats made of bamboo and banana leaves. The children were interested enough by the end, though how much they would retain I would know only later. 

A Rainy Day

The day was beautiful. The rains were scheduled for the whole day and I joined the children in peeking out the door every now and then. 

“Have you been in a hailstorm?”

“Have you seen a landslide – just with rain?”

“Have you worn a bamboo raincoat?”

Have you this and have you that? 

I indulged them as best as I could, enjoying their obvious delight with the rains. I thought they might miss their regular outdoor recess time. But they seemed content to play indoor games and said it was wonderful to sit and watch the rain. 

I agreed. 

It was magical to watch.

Mawsynram or the Sahara?

When they had to go to lunch, they moaned at being asked to leave the cozy classroom. I laughed, well aware about these trends in enthusiasm.

“Mawsynram not looking so good now, huh?” 

The ones who remembered the raincoats made of bamboo and banana leaves lit up. 

“I want to make a raincoat with banana leaves.”

“I just want to be a boabab tree in Africa – I never have to drink water again.”

Off they went, chattering in the rains. It looked like they had not listened. But a little rain told me they did. 

I smiled. 

What About Your School?

The joys of aging in a digital age

The son flopped on the bed, and gave me a commiserating look. I had a harried look on my face. I had just come back from university after a full day of teaching, and was surrounded by my course materials, some student books for grading, and looked like a demented owl looking for her sunglasses.

“Looking for your glasses or phone?” He said astutely, and I felt a little laugh gurgled up at that. He was right – I was always looking for one or the other. Talk about the joys of aging in a digital age.

Read Something?

“Well – Amma. How about I read you something while you look for whatever it is this time?”

I mumbled and groaned at the same time. “I would love that, but don’t you have work to do?” I asked him. It was 10 p.m. on a week-day night and most nights, he is busier than I am. High schoolers.

“I do….but let’s do this.”, he said, and picked up the book, My School Stinks.

I rolled at my eyes at his choice of book. I had picked it up from the library earlier that week, but still.

My School Stinks – Words by Becky Scharnhorst Illustrated by Julia Patton

It is truly a remarkable book. I love how children always astonish us. They have the ability to take something that unreal, know it is preposterous and go ahead to enjoy the nonsensical whimsical tales anyway. 

It starts off with

My desk mate STINKS, my locker buddy bites, and my teacher is UNBEARABLE.

I told Mom my classmates are WIL ANIMALS, but she said ALL little kids are wild animals. I think I’m going to be sick tomorrow.

The book carries on this vein, slowly turning our expectations and sentiments towards friendship on its axis, rotating it, reflecting it, and giving us a hilarious experience anyway. It turns out the boy was right – the school was full of wild animals – real animals and the family just drops him off and picks him up everyday without realizing that their son’s best friend could be a crocodile.

Well ?

The son & I cackled at the book, and I asked him. “Well – any wild animals in your school, my man?” And he responded with dead pan humor, “Of course!”

Then he went on to relate a totally hilarious and grossly exaggerated tale of the red hawk that made its home in the rafters of the school one time, and all the drama that ensued.

I told him about the time some child tried to flush a tree branch down the toilet and we each went back to our respective tasks with a smile on our faces.

 

Which Planet Are You Feeling Like Today?

Learning to Teach Science

One evening, I trudged up the hill to my classroom. It was after a long day of teaching, and I had spent a hot hour commuting to the university for my teaching credential lessons. The evening’s session was on learning to teach science. It is one of my favorite classes, but I did not envy our professor who had to infuse engagement and learning in a bunch wannabe-teachers after we had sent the whole day and week teaching. She is an excellent educator and never shies away from the task though. Somehow, she ends up making us feel invigorated and inspired to teach science by the time we leave, and that is noteworthy in and of itself.

Really, I am glad some people chose to develop others as teachers, and are so generous with their time and talents.

Moody and Muggy – like Venus?

This class, she chose to have a guest educator come in, and the lesson they had planned will stay with me for a long time. She had us answer a question related to our solar system as we walked in. She asked us which planet’s moods matched our own. Hot and muggy like Venus, or dealing with too many moons like Saturn.

  • Mercury: swift orbit – cratered surface
  • Venus: scorching heat – thick clouds
  • Earth: liquid water – teeming life
  • Mars: red dust – massive volcanoes
  • Jupiter: big red spot  – swirling storms
  • Saturn: beautiful rings – gas giant
  • Uranus: tilted axis – ice giant
  • Neptune: supersonic winds – deep blue

It was an interesting exercise and she soon solicited a few responses. Some felt they could be like Uranus or Neptune just to freeze or pause for a moment, or maybe just to escape the heat of the past week. 

A giant step is ?

Soon afterwards, she led us outside to the sprawling campus grounds overlooking the bay. The sun was beginning to dip in the sky, and she said a little walk might do us all a little good. We agreed and off we went. She set up a traffic cone in one spot and called it the sun. Then, she had us estimate the number of steps we would have to take if the scale was : one giant step  ~~ 10 million kilometers.

We guessed and took the steps placing the cones as we went. We only went up to Saturn, but it was enough to get us out of our heads, and into an expansive space. A place to let go of our daily worries and revel in the grand universe we belong to.

A simple search gives us this, but walking outside and acting silly with our classmates as we took giant steps never teaches us things the way a textbook or video does.

If 1 step = 10 million km, here is the step-by-step distance from the Sun out through the solar system (rounded to the nearest whole step):

Sun to Mercury: 6 steps (~58 million km)
Mercury to Venus: 5 steps (~50 million km)
Venus to Earth: 4 steps (~41 million km)
Earth to Mars: 8 steps (~78 million km)
Mars to Jupiter: 55 steps (~550 million km)
Jupiter to Saturn: 65 steps (~646 million km)
Saturn to Uranus: 143 steps (~1.43 billion km)
Uranus to Neptune: 165 steps (~1.65 billion km)
Neptune to Pluto: 140 steps (~1.40 billion km)

The more I live and experience life, the more I realize how little I know.

As we headed back inside, my head was already buzzing with a dozen different activities I could do with the children with this simple activity. They would never forget scales, and the enormous universe we live in once we had tried this.  Everything can be wondrous.

Where is the time?

The only problem is the classic one faced by all teachers. Where was the time? There is precious little of it given all the curriculum demands, testing requirements, standards to be met, small-group coaching, differentiated learning for different skill groups etc. Dedicated teachers try their best, and learning all that goes into running a smooth classroom, is something I am enormously grateful for.

Excerpt from Billy Collins poem: 

Early People – By Billy Collins Book: Whale Day & Other Poems

“Teaching is a noble and time-honored profession,
But little is known about it
Because no one is allowed in the classroom
Except the teacher and the students”

As we babbled our way out after the class, we were an invigorated bunch full of ideas to try out with the children, and I saw our Professor’s smile turn wider and fill her face, as we thanked her.

My mood, as I walked back to the car after a long day, matched Earth – teeming with life and ideas.

I wish I could give my own students lessons like these over time- lessons they will enjoy and remember. Even if they do not remember the specifics, it is enough if they remember feeling awe, accomplishment, sighing with understanding, and being happy to be learning.

What Kids Know That Leaders Forget

Hispanic Heritage Month

It is Hispanic Heritage Month. I was curious to learn the difference between Hispanic and Latinos. In forms from the diversity teams in HR departments, the two terms have been chunked together.  Latinos may be Hispanic or not. Hispanic refers to those hailing from Spanish speaking countries. Latinos are those hailing from countries in Latin America. For instance Brazilians may not identify as Hispanic because Brazil was a Portuguese colony, and therefore do not speak Spanish. 

Cougars roar in Spanish

I now teach in a school where the Latino and Hispanic population is high. So I often get little peeks into the culture. The children like to tease me and ask for science videos in Spanish. “Ms Bala! We want to hear the cougar roar in Spanish!” 

“Can we watch the leopard eat the gazelle in Spanish?”

I give in, enjoying their gentle humor as they giggle, 

“Sounds so different in Spanish!”

“Totally different gazelle you guys!”

Last week, during a session of free play, I was invited to a game of Mexican Bingo. Amidst great cheers, the beans were passed out to each player as the cards were drawn. 

Esperanza Rising & Sonia Sotomayor

When we read Esperanza Rising together, there were so many moments when the children showed me in different ways how much they valued their cultural heritage, and roots. After the book was done, I had the children do a quiet session of art on the book, and some of them did a fantastic job. Some of them needed heavy scaffolding, but they came up with a good theme in the end.

I read a non-fiction book on Sonia Sotomayor to the children to complement the fictional Esperanza Rising the other day, and told them to keep note of the ways in which the books were similar. Once again, they surprised me. A surprise sticker contest really can get their brain cells thinking like nothing else can. 

What Happened?

Schools do a fantastic job of being inclusive, creating a sense of belonging, and teaching everyone to celebrate diversity.  I see the Hispanic child consoling an Indian-origin child for unfairness on the playground just as seamlessly as a Chinese immigrant child looking out for her Polynesian friend.

Somehow, everyday, I wonder how this beautiful dynamic gets lost on the way. Could it be that age jades our outlooks, and makes cynics of us all? 

Tr for Teachers

Teacher’s Day

September 5th is Teacher’s Day in India. This year, I was wished by my parents and family, and I glowed with happiness. It really is a marvelous profession. The day is packed with things to do, and activities to finish, lessons to teach, and all the rest of it. But most importantly, it is filled with loving, energetic children who sometimes dance into the classroom, other times have to be coerced through a tough lesson with the promise of a treat at the end of it.

As my biological children were growing, I often heard complaints about teachers from my friends. How teachers weren’t doing enough, how their children were smart and were not being challenged enough etc etc. Having grown up in a school environment  and the child of teachers, it was interesting to see their perspectives. Like many of us do, the adults seem to have forgotten what we were capable of at every age, and the expectations from the children and teachers was especially high. We live in the Bay Area after all. A place notorious for its high expectations of its children.

But now. I am in a classroom all day long. I see what a hard job teachers are presented with everyday. There is a wide range of personalities, learning abilities, attitudes, quirks, and even motivations for coming to school. A child once confessed that the favorite part of their day was recess, and I smiled at that. How could I blame the child? After all, recess is the basis of culture, as I myself wrote. Every other place, they were being asked to do this and that. At recess, they did what they wanted. Bright sunshine, choice of playmates, choice of play, and more importantly no expectations of them. Of course they love recess! 

Nothing All Day!

I can feel their excitement seep through my ears – the cheers and moans at recess are of a particularly dramatic nature. There is drama too. The cheaters at 4-square, the one who refused to take their place in line, but that rarely walked into the classroom with the children. How can one not admire that?

Sometimes it did. Thorough investigations lead to root causes. So how is a teacher meant to juggle all of that, and ensure that the children feel sufficiently stimulated, develop good behaviors and keep the parents happy? After all, the parents think the children and the teachers happily do nothing all day.

For years, when asked about school, our conversations went like this:

“How was your day?”

Good

“What did you do?”

Nothing!

Never one to let things be, I’d prod.

Ask them about sharks-and-minnows, and their friends, they’d be eloquent, their vocabularies vibrant, and their passions evident. That too, is as it should be. Our learning is safe and steady. Our passions, dramatic and vivid. As parents, we get a tiny window into their day and it is hardly fair to form our opinions based on it. Yet, what choice do we have?

Whenever I asked about what they did learn in English, or Math, or Science, or Social Studies, the answers were hardly inspiring. I can imagine the same across millions of Bay Area homes. But our children learn to read, do math, read and analyze scientific articles, learn about community and history. The growth seems gradual, yes, but it is there, and in just a few years, it is phenomenal. A child who could barely read confidently picks up books for pleasure. A child who struggled to evenly split the pizza between his siblings does so seamlessly, and tells you strange facts about caterpillars when you’re least expecting it. 

The educational calendar reminds me more than ever of one of my friend’s favorite sayings: “We always over-estimate what we can do in one day and under-estimate what we can do in one year.”

I wish there was a way in which we could afford a better peek into their energetic days, but alas!

#TrForTeachers

My loving family in India sent me Happy Teacher’s Day wishes and I glowed all day. I had lost my voice teaching the previous week. But I still croaked to them excitedly and passionately about my children. The biological children rolled their eyes and said, “Ask Amma about her kids, and she doesn’t talk about us anymore. It is all about those 5th graders of hers!”

The parents laughed, and said, “It is what happens to teachers!”

My parents still receive wishes from their own students who are now adults. It always brightens their day, and they smile thinking of their days teaching.

“You aren’t just given happiness, you have to pick it up here and there all through the day.”

― Miss Read, Fresh from the Country

They told me that the Karnataka State government initiated a movement to give teachers the prefix, Tr (like doctors have Dr). What a marvelous idea?! I saw the campaign gain strength and the videos were inspiring and oh so loving. I wish the idea catches on. A simple idea, sure, but a powerful one. One of my professors in my teaching credential program also showed us video, and we all glowed. 

#TrForTeachers

Happy Teacher’s Day to all wonderful teachers.

The Joys of Student Teaching

This week I am with the children – a whole week in which we manage by ourselves. Me. With the children.

Trouble being heard? Or Trouble speaking?

I anticipated many problems. What I did not anticipate was losing my voice. The class has a microphone, it has a mike. In spite of all this, my voice was strained. I was croaking by the end of the day. Even the classroom Alexa refused to listen to me. I suppose my voice did not sound human at all. It was all very trying.

Classrooms are filled with technology – just like the rest of our lives. Something or the other malfunctions all the time providing for equal parts amusement, frustration, and a shared camaraderie as each of the children tries a different technique to get things going.

One time, the text-to-reader was not working. I know the children do not like listening to it either. They say it doesn’t sound like a real person. Which is fair. It does have a robotic monotone which I suppose is trying to fifth graders trying to not bounce around before recess. So, I started to read with that voice of mine.

One of the kids said, “Ms Bala, we can do popcorn reading!” I must’ve looked lost for they explained with the patience and indulgence they reserve for me, knowing I am a student teacher,  “We’ll each read a page.” And just like that, they showed me kindness and compassion without making a fuss. Or being asked to do so.

I really do love these children!

Dancing like Baboons or Flamingoes?

Just as I glowed in appreciation for them, they’d also try my patience by refusing to work out a hard math concept. I found myself coaxing and cajoling them to slide through the cubes to find the volume and surface area one morning.

“But we won’t even use this anywhere!” Whine.

“We did this all already! We filled out our answers!” Indignant.

“Not correctly! I checked your work. Most of you got it wrong. And I am so glad you brought up that it may never be used!” And I went on to tell them all the ways in which we use surface area to design products, or rooms, or cabin holds in flights, or medical instruments for that matter.

Only the promise of a dance video at the end of the lesson got them through the class. I shook my head as I watched imitate flamingoes or baboons in a dance video and moved away. But at the end of the lesson, two of them came up to me and said shyly, “Ms Bala – You really are a fun math teacher!”

I’d do the whole lesson again just for that. Don’t tell them that.

Oh the things you do!

Some days they behaved fabulously, and other days they were irritated with the fact that they were having to do work even though their main teacher was out. It was fascinating to watch.

Just as I’d admire how emotionally intelligent some of them were, I’d be faced with something like this:

“Ms Bala! He’s been saying that he’s going to take away my toys!”

“Which toys did you bring to school, Lysa?”

“I didn’t bring any toys!”

“So what can he take from you?”

I was reminded of P G Wodehouse’s quote about teachers:

“There is always something going on in a .. school. Beyond breaking up fights,…, inducing boys of all sizes not to throw stones, go on the wet grass, , tease the cat, make too much noise, …, swallow pencils, and drink ink because somebody bet them they wouldn’t, I had very little to do except teach mathematics,…,  play football, herd stragglers into meals… “

 

AIImagegeneratedbasedonthequotebyPGWodehouse:

I have James Patterson’s book, Thank You, Teachers, beaming at me from the bookshelf waiting to be read. I can already identify with it. Teachers really are as he describes it, “our last line of defense and our first line of hope.”

I am waiting to see the stories he has collected from teachers in the book.

I am full of tales every day, and I know now why there are so few teachers who are also mainstream writers. Life is so full in a classroom. It is filled with camaraderie, drama, and sweet moments that make you believe in humanity. But just like the children say “How was your day?”” Good!”” What did you do?” “Nothing!”  So it is with teachers.

You cherish the moments and prepare for the next class.

First Week Jitters

First Day Jitters

It was the first day of school. I had the First Day Jitters book read aloud to me by our professor, and was still as nervous as Ms Sarah.

All the advice from the children, fellow teachers, professors, aunts and parents who’d been teachers, friends and family rattling away merrily in my head.

Do I smile? Should I be friendly?

Strict? No nonsense?

If only the children knew! I felt like they were observing and wondering what to make of me.

Trying their luck?

I saw over the next few days how exactly they tried their luck.

“Can I sit there next to Joseph?”

“Why? What happened to your spot?”

Shrug.

“Usually no. But I’ll allow it today.” I said. I was telling the son all the ways in which they were asking me for this and that as I picked him up from his high school, and he drew in his breath sharply.

“Oooh! Rookie mistake Amma!”

I looked over at him puzzled.

“If they are asking you – they k-n-o-w it isn’t allowed! It’s why they aren’t asking the main teacher – because it will be shut down so quickly!” , he said zipping his hands through the air, and I blinked, and then laughed.

“You’re right. So initially, say no to everything?”

“Most things! You want them to like you too. And only for the first few days. After that, they’ll get used to getting directions from you.”, he said sounding sage-like.

It is true. Children are like that, aren’t they? I thought of all the little ways in which they settled in  with their new teachers.

  • They pushed in their chairs when they got up. Yes.Good Job.
  • They did that thing where they lean back on their chairs on two legs.No.We do not that. It is dangerous.

 

  • Thank you for listening.
  • People who do not listen are going to miss this.

 

  • Thank you for doing your classroom jobs.
  • Why didn’t you do your job?

The human spirit

I also saw plenty of things that warm the human spirit too. The kind of things that I hope we retain as we grow older. For instance, we played a small game to wrap up the day one day. The children partnered up with each other and played. It was a quick paced game based on reflexes and the children were quick to react.

“So how many of you didn’t win a single round?”, asked the teacher, and one of the children raised their hand. “Got to work on your reflexes buddy!” She said good-naturedly and moved on.

I watched the game with interest and smiled at the moans when they lost and the whoops of joy when they won.

At the end of the game, she asked the partners to agree on the winner between them and come for a quick treat of candy. One of the children who sat many desks away from the child who hadn’t won a single round walked around in the mayhem and shared his candy with him. No fanfare – just friendship.

The bond between them was laughter. They were able to see together the same absurdities and incongruities in things. The most trivial and unnoticeable thing to others would tickle them to death.”

R K Narayan – Swami & His Friends

I smiled the whole way home.

 

When you can be anything …

What do you want to be? 

A question that we ask our children way before they know who they are. Some of us know what we want to be doing early on. Some others not so much. People like me take a lifetime because we are always becoming. 

Now I think it’s one of the most useless questions an adult can ask a child—What do you want to be when you grow up? As if growing up is finite. As if at some point you become something and that’s the end. — Michelle Obama, [Becoming]

For those of you who do not yet know – I am switching careers now. Following a dream that has been in me for almost my whole adult life. I am choosing, and learning to become a teacher.

I am not sure why this took me so long. But it did. I studied to be a software engineer, had a reasonably good career for a quarter century. So why now? The answer was more simple than before, because I answered them with more questions: Why not now? If not now, then when?

Learning to Teach 

I am attending university to get my teaching credentials. School, assignments, examinations, projects, friends, classmates, teachers, professors, and I feel I have arrived home again. I have always wanted to learn. Loved to learn.

My courses over the summer were exciting and interesting, if somewhat different from what I have been doing over the past few decades. The past few decades were systems and scaling. Hopefully the next few years is children and growth.

A good part of learning to teach is grounded in psychology. Developmental psychology. At what age do children learn to think in abstract terms? Does it match the age when algebra is being introduced?

On phone calls with the parents, both teachers, they ask with interest about the psychological theories I am learning about. They are both retired teachers after decades of teaching, and still cannot quite help themselves from learning to teach.

Vygotsky, Bandura, Piaget, Gardner, Erik Erikson – they are all rattling in the brain after a fascinating few months of learning.

Teaching to Learn

This month, I get to be a student teacher in an Elementary school classroom. It is a long process to become a certified teacher in California. Something I did not realize.

My children had excellent teachers and mostly remember them with fondness. I have interacted with many of them over the years, some of whom have become friends to me too. But I still hadn’t realized the long journey it takes to become a teacher. All the exams, certifications, permits, trainings (mandatory, required, essential!), and all the preparations they do throughout the year to be ready for the children in the classroom. I have always heard of good teacher shortages, and I now know why. It is a long process, and a demanding journey for a profession that is famed for less pay especially in the Bay Area. But all of this has only made me respect teachers more. 

On one side, it means only those who truly want to teach come to the profession, but on the other hand, I feel we are missing out on talent that future generations could benefit from. I do not know what the solution is.

As part of our teaching credential, they asked us to name one reason we each chose to become a teacher. The answers were varied : community, giving, learning, children, growth. But whatever it is, I beamed around at my fellow teachers-to-be. They are all a little polymathic in their abilities and interests. Artistic, analytical, curious, cogent, enthusiastic and genuinely considerate and intelligent. The children who will be benefiting from them are lucky indeed.

Please wish me luck in this endeavor. Becoming is a journey.

The Inner Self & The Outer Self

Our Inner & Outer Selves

I am sitting in a classroom, my heart bursting at the warm atmosphere. The teacher has given an activity in which they sketch their personality – their inner and outer selves. I do not remember doing something like this in school. But oh! What a wonderful activity?! I don’t think I actively thought about inner personality & outer personality the ways in which these children are taught to in as early as elementary school, and it is such a refreshing change. 

The past few months have been a completely different perspective on life than what has been playing out in the larger world and the dichotomy of being alive and welcome in a classroom seems so different from what is happening elsewhere. I cannot believe that hateful forces are at work outside our elementary classrooms. 

In all our teaching classes, we are taught ways in which we can embrace each child’s culture, make them feel like their perspective is welcome, and prepare them for the future.

The activities in our schools and with children seem so unifying and geared towards belonging. It is what the teachers are trained to do  – and they do it with competence, warmth and flair. The hum of work and chatter is a strangely comforting rhythm when monetary rewards are taken away from one. 

Teachers ask children their names – how they’d like to be called, and how they would like to respect each other, and maybe these are things that the children in adults have forgotten. But the children are marvelous teachers and I am grateful that I get to learn from them. The cheaters at four-square are not appreciated and a sense of fairness pervades the playgrounds. 

A Year to Learn About Ourselves

So what happens to all that as we grow? They vote ‘Be patient’ as a virtue to be upheld in the classroom almost universally. Yet, as adults, we seem to forget. 

The more I live life, the more I come back to the simple tenets in life. Every ten years, adults should be allowed the freedom and beautiful belonging that comes from an elementary school classroom. A year in which we are allowed to embrace art, music, dance, theatre, physical education, math, science, language and literature, history and geography with fresh perspectives, and equal fervor. 

“You aren’t just given happiness, you have to pick it up here and there all through the day.” 

― Miss Read, Fresh from the Country

Reinforce our faith in humanity through the finer things in life without expectation. Every decade. If I ever get to design a utopian society, this is just what I would do. A year in which all your worries drop at least for those few hours in the classroom.

K-Pop & Cultural References

“Would you like to explain your drawing to me?” I asked the children as they handed their drawing to me. Mild music floated around us, as the children stopped to show me what they had done. One child truly had done a fantastic job. “This, here are my favorite K-Pop albums.” she said, pointing to something that I had to squint at to decipher, while I drudged up the only K-Pop music I remembered. “Oh! The only one I know is Gangnam Style!” I said, looking sheepish. I really do need to get my cultural references in order. The other day, I told them the most recent movie I watched was Pride & Prejudice, and they gave me looks they reserved for their favorite dinosaur. It was true, but why didn’t I think of watching Spiderman the week before school started?

She gave me an indulgent look, and said, “Oh – that is good – but a little old. You can try Crazy by Le SSeraFim. ” She waited patiently as I wrote it down. I just watched it, and I can see why it appealed to her.  It is catchy with brilliant visuals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6B5gQXlB-0&list=RDn6B5gQXlB-0&start_radio=1

Another boy’s drawing was filled with baseball. I made a mental note to look up some baseball facts, remembering the famous Leslie Vs Recht Baseball Study on learning cognition.

I had this sudden gratitude that here I was surrounded by 30 different personalities, and I knew not what I would learn from them as I taught my way through the curriculum. The hour of art had done marvels for us all. Teachers and students alike emerged happy and refreshed from the exercise, and I smiled in thanks.