So, it has been a while, and I keep meaning to write. In fact, I have 2 blog posts saved as drafts. But I never get around to finishing them. Mostly because I’m lazy, and partly because I keep getting distracted.
But coming back to the blog is useful. I’ve been feeling pretty bad about school this week, and when I returned, I realised that it was the same thing at this stage in Jafari. In fact, for those of you reading closely, you will remember that it was almost exactly 2 weeks in to Jafari that I published my teenage, angsty, ridiculous rant. Seeing that, and realising that I’m doing much better has been some consolation at least.
So, school. I’m having trouble connecting with my kids, and getting them to do what they should. Many of them find it hilarious to play musical chairs in my class, so will be hopping around all day, others will play the drums, in a synchronised manner across the class so that I have no idea whom I should ask to stop. In essence, they are doing all the things that standard Class 6 kids do. And I’m not being able to stop them!
In terms of what’s happening in class- we’ve started subject teaching, so now I just teach English, History and Geography. And I teach (that’s an optimistic term for the reality of my classroom) my class and Abhijat’s class (the other class 6 section), mostly in ability based groups. The kids hate shuffling around and they hate going to the other class. But I think we will get there, and it is really important for them to realise that learning is important not the teacher!
Because they are so anti-subject teaching/switching classrooms, we had a chat with our kids about it. We told them why we were doing it, why they had different study groups, a little about ourselves and then asked them what they did and didn’t like in each of our classes. Apparently, the like that fact that I don’t yell (and they can get away with blue murder), but cannot read my handwriting on the board. This latter is a very fair point, as anyone who has seen my spidery scrawl will agree too. Even on paper, my writing is appalling, and this just intensifies on a blackboard. So I’ve now switched to working entirely off my laptop and projector. I make a slide deck for each day, and that means that there is very little I actually have to write down. Thank the lord.
Also, the kids are adorable. In a moment of glory, after Thursday school (we had spoken to the kids about all this in the morning), two kids from Abhijat’s class came up to me when everything was finished and just said “Didi, you taught well today. Yesterday we complained about you to Bhaiya and he said to give you time. We didn’t believe him, but we do now. You teach well.” and another kid, with whom I’d been at loggerheads the day before just came in to class and helped me pack up my belongings. It was a small gesture, but it was a token of peace. These tiny events give me hope and faith, both in my kids, but also in myself.
But I know I need to make learning far more fun. I’ve gotten stuck in that rut of objectives and standards, and as a result, class is BORING. I would hate to be in my own class, and that’s never a good sign!
I am hoping to make next week a more entertaining one for the kids. I’m planning to make it “space week”, so that everything we do is to do with going to be linked to going to space. I think we will be planning a trip in to space. We will start by getting in to groups, and thinking about what we will need. But before we do that, we need to know a bit about where we are going. So we will read a bit about space, and what is out there, and each group will decide on where it is they want to go. Once they have done that, I will give them access to more information about said place. They then need to decide exactly what they will be taking with them, plan their mode of transport (again, extracting important information from fact-files, doing research etc). Once they know what they need, they will need to design a leaflet to attract funds for their trip. The aim is to add interest and a stronger sense of purpose. I’m not sure this plan will accomplish that, but I have to try something, and then go from there. So space, here come the explorers… be afraid.
Kindling flames 