The More Teachers, the Merrier

Class last week was pretty smooth. This week is spring break and Naw-Ruz, so we plan to resume on March 25th.

Let me start by thanking the two substitutes who expertly nurtured the children, took photos and engaged each child.

Big sister holds hands tightly, as the little ones eagerly walk to class a few weeks ago.

Five kids attended today; one is out of the picture, exploring the classroom.
That's me with the cheesy grin.

Today there was a light rain, after months of dry days - and drought. No one came to class on their own, so at 3:55 I headed out to see if anyone wanted to come. We made it back to class around 4:15 to find the substitutes there and ready to go. It's true that there are some children who are more difficult when it comes to discipline, and I find myself considering not going by their home, justifying in my mind that 'class is late.' But when I remind myself that all children need to loved and taught, not just the ones who are easy to be around, I stop by anyway.

How was class today? More teachers yielded better behavior, more unity (and ease for me). It's also becoming clear that the kids who have acted the toughest, are responding the most to consistency of having class, and the love the teachers show in their kindness and attention. The more the merrier!

Ayyam-i-Ha Party Attacts Crowd

This was an interesting day, to say the least. The other teacher and I arrived at 3:30, all bright eyed and bushy tailed to have an Ayyam-i-Ha party! We had 4 or 5 games picked out, prizes for some of the games, helium balloons for decorations, sports equipment for several sports and tons of extra snacks. Par-ty!

At 3:55 we were puzzled that no kids had come. Our most optimistic guess was that 20 kids might show up. Didn't everyone remember our speech last week about extra stickers for coming to class on their own, and that we were having a party? Didn't anybody notice the lovely weather and just stroll by the playground where we were? NO.

After consulting, we decided the other teacher would stay with the stuff, and I would round up kids. Even though it was 4:05, heck, maybe I could get the kids who often attend and be back by 4:15. Not.

I'll skip the details of conversations with kids and parents that I had along the way, but at 4:30, rounding the corner to head back to the playground, I called the other teacher to say, "Hey, I know we'll only have 30 minutes, but I'm coming and there are 8 of us on our way. Are any with you?" Ya, and we're playing. See you when you get here.

We formed a circle with about 20, none of whom were the regulars, and sang, O God! Educate These Children. A parent was there and heard this, plus our short and quick speech about the day, "We're celebrating Ayyam-i-Ha, which is a fun time, and it's sort of celebrating that spring is almost here (that was not well thought out, but covered the basics in a way that was in my best 'kid speak' and also my 'everyone here is Christian and most don't know about Bahá'í' yet.) While we were singing the prayer, I peaked to my left. One kid who had attended our class a few times was humming one note; well, her mouth was open so it wasn't like true humming, and the girl next to her was glaring at her. The glare said, "Shut up! You don't know the song, and I can't concentrate on it with that sound you're making!" (It wasn't even Lucy. This brings me back to elementary school every time. I always loved singing, even the cheesy, kiddie songs... they all were... and while I learned songs for the first time, I just mumbled or hummed. It's a kid thing I think.)

Much of what happened was regular party stuff. What was unusual was that we had a party in 30 minutes. By the end, there were close to 30 kids! We only managed to get 4 of the snack items passed out (the other 5 types of items can be used another time or taken back to the store). We had 3 organized games/activities, and 3 we didn't do. As 'Z' and I walked a few kids home - most walked themselves home - we both had a sense of survival and accomplishment. It truly was an interesting day.

Jingle All the Way

Last week, on February 25, class had a lot of harmony and unity. Things really clicked along and I actually enjoyed the class - pretty much from beginning to end.

We introduced a new rule: If you come to class on your own, you get two stickers for the attendance chart. If we have to come to your door and remind you, you still get one sticker. But please come here on your own!

The other teacher and I consulted about when we would have an Ayyam-i-Ha party, and had agreed to have it just after, rather than just before (since there were no Wednesdays for the holiday this year.)

The kids focused on the lesson so well. One indicator of this was that when I slipped to the back to prepare the snack, 1 or 2 did not follow me to see if I needed any help.

Thinking of the favorite thing today, a surprise and the least favorite is something I came up with on the fly years ago for wrapping up group activities. At times I'll utilize it here.

My least favorite thing was the feeling of dread when it was clear that we did not have enough cups, and so I was just going to have to improvise. (Of course, it all worked out and was no big deal.)

My favorite thing was also a surprise was when we started off class with our usual songs. I said something like, "Let's sing our song." And Lucy said, "Let's sing Jingle Bells!" I said, "Maybe we'll sing that later (knowing that would not be my intention, not if we had class for 5, 000 more years)." The other teacher and I proceeded to sing, and so did Lucy - much louder and Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way. As I write this it was 2 weeks ago and I'm still cracking up about it. We literally had 2 songs going, on top of each other, for about a minute.

Anyway, towards the end of class we mentioned the stickers again and announced that we were having a party next week. It would be really fun - everyone try to make it!



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What was the lesson today? The virtue of sacrifice.

"The mystery of sacrifice is that man should sacrifice all his conditions for the divine station of God." ~ from the Baha'i Writings