365 Writing Prompts: Bittersweet Memories

You receive a gift that is bittersweet and makes you nostalgic.What is it?

To me gifts are special,I received gifts from a variety of people. The ones I cherished most are those given to me by the kids I taught.

I found boys were quite thoughtful, one of the gifts I received was a bracelet from one of my students. I remember he brought it to my desk and waited to see my reaction. “It’s beautiful”, I said, “thank you.”

Kids are very thoughtful they have their own way of finding out their teacher’s likes and dislikes.Once I was asked by one of the boys, “What’s your favorite hockey team?”

I replied, “My favorite team is the Boston Bruins” he was a bit disappointed.

“But Miss they are not a Canadian team”, he said!

I told him, “it does not matter, most of the players are Canadian on that team.”

I guess he was relieved to hear my answer. One day he walked over to my desk and gave me a pin of the  Boston Bruin goalie. I was impressed.

All I could say was, “Thank you”,it seemed he didn’t hold a grudge against me for liking the ‘The Boston Bruin Hockey Team.”

………………………………. 🙂

365 Writing Prompts: No you see me

You have a secret superpower: the ability to appear and disappear at will. When and where will you use this new superpower?Tell us a story.

I know I have a secret superpower, I can appear and disappear whenever I want to. I wasn’t sure how I’d use this power.

I was curious to know how this power of mine can be useful, keeping this in mind I went to a drug store to get some face cream for me. While checking the different brands, I noticed two little boys in front of the shelf of chocolates, are they trying to steal some was the thought that struck me?

Immediately I used my power of disappear and landed close to them, I overheard the boys  telling each other, “you let me know when someone’s coming,so I can pick a couple of these delicious chocolates and put them in my pocket, we will share them when we’re out.”

It was time for me to appear in front of the boys before they stole the chocolates, Hi I said, aren’t these chocolates delicious, will you buy some?

No one of them said and both turned around to leave, I knew they were disappointed but I felt relieved I stopped them from stealing, as they were about to leave I talked to them about chocolates and told them the dark chocolates were good for health, the boys were happy to let me know which ones they liked and dark ones were too bitter they didn’t like them.

I volunteered to buy some dark and some milk chocolates, we will taste them and find out which ones were delicious and the ones not so good. I bought a mixture of chocolates and invited them to sit on the nearby bench and taste them. The boys were delighted they’d be able to eat some chocolates and discuss which ones were  tastier.

I let the boys taste most of the chocolates, I only broke two small pieces to taste, it was not really about the taste it was me trying to be friendly with the boys.

When the the chocolates were eaten and we gave our verdict about which ones were tastier I stood up to leave, one of them said, ” thank you so much for letting us eat the chocolates, we were craving for chocolates today,we wanted to steal some, we are so glad you showed up you stopped us from stealing.”

I gave each a hug and told them I was proud of them!

k: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/12/02/365-writing-pr…-no-you-see-me

DP Daily Prompts: Flash Talk

You’re about to enter a room full of strangers, where you will have exactly four minutes to tell a story that would convey who you really are . What’s your story?

My husband is a physician, he goes to his place of work at 8.30 a.m., I go at the same time to a different building,there are boys and girls in the building. I have my own room, there are thirty boys and girls in my room.

I leave my house at 8.30 a.m and am free at 4 p.m., the boys and girls come to my room to do their reading, writing and Arithmetic.

This is my story.

365 Writing Prompts:We can be taught

What makes a teacher great?

Before I try to write what makes a great teacher, I’m eager to find out, who deserves to be a teacher?

With the above question in my mind I went about reading different people’s notion of evil and good, it breaks my heart to think these so called educated people, have given their verdict on who is evil, according to them some children are born evil.

When a child is born, he/she comes with a clean slate, they are at the mercy of their parents, guardians or others who take care of him/her. Can you honestly say that this child is evil, if you do, it means God has poured all the evil genes in him before sending him to earth, who else would you think, because the people on earth didn’t get a chance  to make him evil,it was taken care of by the creator.

For starters my feeling is people who have a twisted mind like this should not be allowed in the teaching profession.

It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to become a teacher, one must have proper education on how to deal with a pupil or student.

I also know what one learns in education seldom helps in teaching, one learns as he or she begins a career in teaching. I am thinking how I learned the art of teaching, it wasn’t educational Psychology,history of education, none of these things I learned, prepared me for teaching. It was by stepping into a classroom, my how to teach began.

I remember it was the second year of my teaching, I had taken a job in a local “Residential model school, in Bangladesh,” I asked a few questions to my colleague, I noticed she always changed the subject, it became evident she did not want to transfer her knowledge to me.

I wasn’t scared I knew I can learn on my own by watching the kids.It was my first day in that school, there were forty-two boys in my class, they were six year old rambunctious kids, One of them came up to me and said,”You are our sixth teacher in two months.”

Like Julie Andrews in ‘Sound of Music, I quietly thought what’s wrong with these kids?

I found that out soon enough, when the recess bell rang, I heard a loud roar within seconds the boys were out of the class in the playground noisily jumping and running. They were I assume thinking, ‘how long will she stay with us?’

After recess they all came in like a bunch of ruffians eager to see what I may have to offer. I did nothing that day.The following day after assigning their work for the first two periods, I looked at my time to find out when will the bell  ring for recess, when I saw there were only five minutes left,I got the attention of the boys and made a very firm announcement, I said, “the recess bell will ring after five minutes, if any one stands up before I say so, you will not have recess.”

There was pin drop silence each looked at the other, the bell rang they stayed glued in their seats, I looked at them and told them to stand up, they were to remain silent and leave the room one row at a time. The boys were quiet and did as I asked.

From that day onward I had no trouble with them, they did not dislike me on the contrary they liked me a lot.

I still cannot answer the question what makes a teacher great, I think loving one’s job, loving the kids one teaches, and be firm when needed. Children like discipline, it doesn’t mean take a stick in your hand and demand good behavior, trust me it does not work.

: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/09/21/365-writing-pr…-can-be-taught