Social Butterfly

Throughout the three months that I have lived in Kuwait I've had my fair share of relaxing weekends, some which even involved not stepping outside the apartment. Most weekends come and go with my regular afternoon of tutoring on Saturdays, lesson planning throughout the two days off and the occasional trip to the mall or dinner plans. This weekend was a little different.

Thursday night, I had planned to attend a lecture "Is There a Western Media Conspiracy Against Islam and Muslims?" at the AWARE (Advocates for Western-Arab Relations) Center. While jotting down the address, all dressed and ready to catch a cab, I noticed that the lecture was not Thursday but rather Saturday evening. Not knowing what else to do I walked across the street to this Indian/Pakistani restaurant for a nice Thanksgiving dinner. About an hour later my friend Marisol called and invited me to one of her coworker’s apartments for a Thanksgiving meal. Hearing “pumpkin pie” helped convince me to change out of my pajamas and meet Marisol who was waiting outside in a cab. It was really wonderful, spending the night with a friend and getting to meet some really wonderful new people, including one very adorable two month old. The food (and dessert) was also delicious.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, Marisol and I spent most of Friday afternoon at the Iranian and animal souk. We made it back home around 4 which meant that I had two hours until my next event – Thanksgiving dinner at my director’s home. There were around 20 people at her house, people I work with at FSIS as well as some new faces. The food was delicious and I unfortunately followed the Thanksgiving tradition of not knowing when to stop.

This morning I was picked up by another coworker/friend and taken to a party for a teacher who just earned her Masters degree. It was a women only party which meant most women were hijab-free. We had a great time, talking, dancing and of course eating. There were tons of sweets – cakes, croissants, chocolates, breads.. you name it. It was really nice, getting to socialize with teachers outside of school and talk about (some) things not having to do with school or students.

After the party I did a few hours of tutoring and then caught a cab to attend the lecture that I had originally planned on for on Thursday. The speaker, Ibrahim Hooper who is one of the co-founders of CAIR (Council for American-Islamic Relations, the largest Muslim civil liberties group in the US) was very good, as was the free buffet following the event (is anyone picking up on a reoccurring theme this weekend?). Marisol and I met up again, our third time in three days which is roughly the same number of times we’ve seen each other since moving here in August.

InshAllah, one week from right now I will be sitting on my couch at home in Bristol catching up on the past three months with my father and anxiously waiting to see my mom and grandparents. Less than a week… I think I better start packing.

Black Friday - Kuwaiti Style

We all know Black Friday. People wake up before the sun rises in order to get a head start on their Christmas shopping. TVs are sold at incredible discounts, people shopping while still in pajamas, carts overflowing with items. Even though I am no longer celebrating Christmas and have only participated in the Black Friday festivities (aka madness) once in my life, today I did my own version of Black Friday shopping.

My friend Marisol, who I met back this past January at the UNI International Recruiting Fair in Iowa, accompanied me to the Iranian Souk and Friday Market. I hadn’t realized Marisol had been to the Iranian Souk until walking through and seeing how the shop owners recognized and greeted her. I don’t know what I would do without her. I don’t have the best bargaining skills, although to give myself credit just last week I refused to pay the extraordinarily overpriced 4 KD (about 20 USD) fare one taxi driver was trying to get out of me. I was proud of myself, realizing he would not budge for less than 2.5 KD when I only paid half of that to get to my destination, I got out of the taxi and found another one willing to accept my price.

As I was saying, Marisol is very good at bargaining and quickly shoved my arm down as I was reaching for my wallet after hearing an initial price. I did some shopping, not for Christmas mind you, but for Eid which inshAllah I will be celebrating at home either December 8th or 9th. I was able to find the few things I wanted to purchase for my mother, sister, grandmother and aunt that and was able to get them for a very reasonable price. I also purchased a beautiful piece of Islamic artwork that says Alhamdulillah or Praise be to Allah in Arabic calligraphy. It actually says something else after Alhamdulillah and even though I have been practicing and keeping up with my Arabic classes on Thursdays, I can’t quite make out the other words... I’ll blame it on the calligraphy.

After the Iranian Souk, Marisol and I ran across the street to the Friday Market. We first found the animal souk which was filled with hundreds of sheep, in preparation for the upcoming Eid holiday. Although I knew my camera gave me away as a foreigner and tourist, I couldn’t help but snap pictures of the animals. I even spotted one baby mixed into the herd which I also captured on film. After the sheep section we made our way through the poultry part of the souk. Again, with camera in hand, I took some pictures as I walked through and was just fascinated by the variety of birds and number of people buying live poultry. I saw pigeons, chickens, roosters, baby chicks, ducks, turkeys, and a really neat looking quail like bird. I even spotted four guinea pigs running around inside one of the metal cages used to contain the other birds.







After the souks, Marisol and I took a taxi to the Avenues Mall. Our taxi driver dropped us off inside the parking garage and kindly explained his reasoning behind our drop off location. It seems that police cars monitor the top level and he was driving on a suspended license… from our short but scary cab ride, I can’t say I was surprised. Marisol and I had lunch in TGI Fridays and then did a little grocery shopping at Carrefore. I bought some chocolates to take home and vegetables to get me through the week.

I’ve got about 2 hours to relax and then I’m off to my director’s house for Thanksgiving dinner. I am staying busy and haven’t found time to start packing yet. I’m sure I will start to tackle that within the next few days… Countdown update: one week and five hours from right now I’ll be on my way to the airport, inshAllah.

Literary Day

Today the Special Events Committee held Literary Day at Fawzia Sultan. High school students competed in a poetry contest, middle school students read stories to elementary students and elementary school got to dress up, show off our costumes at an assembly and have an autograph party. It was a great way to end our week and the students really seemed to enjoy it.

I dressed up as Miss Ladybug from James and the Giant Peach, the story that I am only 20 pages away from finishing. Ms. Rana helped create a pair of antennae for me and cut out some black spots which I pinned to my red dress. I was originally going to use Eric Carle’s Grouchy Ladybug but did not want to risk my students making a connection between grouchy and Miss Rebecca. This way, if my students wanted to call me by my character’s name I still got in the respectful “Miss” rather than being called a grouch.

Grade 4 had a wide variety of costumes: a firefighter, swimmer, tae kwon do guy, warrior, British Airways pilot, Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean, a doctor and a mailman turned rock star due to forgetting/not putting a costume together.



We spent the first part of the morning practicing what we would say at the assembly when introducing the book and talking about why our character was special. Lower and upper elementary grades were split up into two assemblies. Once they were complete, the lower grades treated us to a costume parade and then students were set free in the cafeteria to obtain as many signatures as possible.



Last period my classroom was full with over 18 boys, 7 from my class and the rest from middle school. My kids really enjoyed having the opportunity to interact with older students.



Click here to see pictures from today.

It’s hard to believe that there is only one week left before winter break and I’m sure my students are feeling just as anxious as I am.

Kids say the darndest things

I love my students. And they love to talk. Here are just a few of their comments or questions I was able to jot down on post-its throughout the past three days that I thought you might enjoy. R=Rebecca S=Student

R: There are very few people who visit or live on Antarctica. The people who live on Antarctica are scientists and they only stay for a few months at a time. Can you think of some animals that live on Antarctica? Yes, very good. Penguins and seals.
S: When I went to Antarctica it wasn’t that cold.
R: You’ve been to Antarctica?
S: Yeah, with my dad and it wasn’t very cold.


S: Is Christmas haraam?


S: Why do we have to do work in school?
R: We come to school so that we can learn and that involves doing work.
S: Sighhh, I wish I could just wash cars for a living. That sounds like more fun than doing work.


S: If Venice doesn’t have any roads do the airplanes land in the water?


S: I hate being a twin.
R: Wow (student name), I didn’t know you are a twin.
S: I’m not.


S: You are a sheep.(this is one of the favorite insults in Arabic)


S: Miss, are you married?
R: No.
S: Why not?
R: Umm (pause)… look at that it’s time for our Spelling words of the week


S: YMCA (I'm not sure where this came from. My student said this upon returning from the bathroom.)


S: I don’t like you.
R: Oh, I’m sorry to hear that because I really like you.
S: I hurt your feelings?
R: A little bit but I'll be ok. I think it's great that you are expressing your feelings but it is also important to think about how our words can hurt people.
S: I'm sorry (makes a face which says the contrary) but I still don’t like you.


S: Is it really true that Allah has made us all brothers and sisters?


R: Another winter activity that people like to do on the Alps Mountains in Europe is snowshoeing.
S: I’ve done that!! With my dad, when he and I visited Antarctica!!

The boy next door...

Seeing that it gets a bit lonely living alone, I welcome whatever contact I can get with people, especially when outside of school. Luckily, my kitchen window directly faces the kitchen window of a really wonderful family in the apartment building next door. I’ve made friends with the mom and her youngest son, Abdullah. He is 2 and a half, adorable mashAllah and likes to stand on the sink and wave at me.

Just now his mom told me that every time she is in the kitchen doing dishes or getting something out of the fridge, Abdullah will run in, ask to be picked up and look out the window to see if my light is on. She said that he is always disappointed in the morning upon seeing a dark room without his neighbor’s smiling face.

Most people here in Kuwait put curtains or solid colored papers up to block their windows so people cannot see in. Instead, I don my hijab and long sleeves around the apartment and because of it have had quite a few nice conversations (and waves from Abdullah) with my neighbors next door.

PowerPoint to the Rescue

I did it. I figured out what works with my kids. For the past three months I have been struggling to keep them on task during reading, focused and engaged, and monitoring that they are all getting the correct information. Well, I did it. I mentioned in a previous post that I showed a power point presentation last week on Antarctica (that they loved) which led me to creating one for the new book we started reading today, Amber Brown is Not a Crayon.

I set the projector up ahead of time while they were at Islamic Studies and had a simple slide up on the board that said, ‘We will begin once everyone is in their seat and showing me that they are quiet and ready to learn.’ Being the anxious little bunch that they are, they quickly filed into the classroom sat down and showed me that they were ready.

This weekend I read through the 80-page chapter book and created a reading guide with 8-10 questions from each chapter. I then copied each question onto an individual slide in power point, jazzed it up with some animation and clip art and that was that. At least two weeks of Language Arts lessons all set. Although I’m making it sound easy, to give myself credit I spent my fair share of time in front of the computer putting the presentation together. I used custom animation, shapes and colors in hopes that the slides might hold their attention.

I’m not sure why I hadn’t thought of this before. It’s perfect. I can stand in the middle of the classroom, next to the projector and easily see who is on task. I set the power point slides up so that at the beginning of each chapter I tell them what page to open up to, remind them to put their listening ears and thinking caps on and to give me a thumbs-up to signal when they are ready to learn.

Students and I took turns reading and then we moved on to answering the questions from their reading guide papers. I posted the question at the top and then paused for the students to provide the answer. To help my student with dyslexia I bolded the most important words and told him that those were the words he should copy down and focus on.

Perhaps my students responded so well because it appeals to my visual learners or maybe it is just that this is something new, either way at the end of Language Arts Ms. Rebecca sure was happy.

Productive Saturday

While this may not be the most exciting post, it will give you a glimpse into how I am keeping myself busy while 6,000 miles away from everyone I love. Today I was surprisingly productive and I feel really good about it... Get ready to hear me gloat.

I woke up early this morning, around 8, which is at least 2-3 hours before my usual weekend wake up time. I stayed in bed for a while, going through emails and visiting some of my usual websites: BBC news, Digg, Facebook, Icanhascheezburger, IslamQ&A and so on. When I finally got up I decided that I should get a load of laundry in. I knew that sheets were my first priority. I wanted to be able to wash and have them out and ready to air dry before leaving to tutor.

After putting my sheets in my little washer/dryer machine located in my kitchen, I changed into workout clothes and walked next door to the gym. The other teacher apartment building has one apartment that has been turned into a little gym which is always open and ready to use. We have two treadmills, a stationary bike and an elliptical machine, all at least 5-10 years old but get the job done. There is also a free weight set along with a bench and one of those big balls for abs. I was able to distract myself while on the treadmill for a while by opening the large window that looks out over the masjid and my busy street.

By the time I finished my work out and was showered, I prayed zuhr and remembered to take my sheets out of the machine. I hung them to dry in my office and loaded the machine with some clothes. I cooked some barley and then searched my closet for something to wear. Seeing that I wasn’t in the mood to iron and liked the idea of staying in capris and a tee shirt, I slipped on my abaya and was out the door.

The family I tutor for lives just a 4 minute walk down the street. Today I only had to work with the two 9th grade students. We read a little history on Shakespeare’s life and Globe Theater, and then write summaries for each. We did a little work in their grammar books and then had a delicious lunch. The mom, an incredible cook, was out with a friend but left a tray of eggplant lasagna and a chicken pasta dish for us to eat. I always look forward to Saturdays, as it has become tradition for me to join the family for lunch in between tutoring sessions for their children and is by far the best meal I have all week.

I then walked to the small masjid next to their house to pray Asr. This mosque was really beautiful and had the softest, maroon and white carpet inside. Once I had finished I stopped to get a few groceries: 2 cans of 7Up Free, zucchini, cucumbers, bananas, milk, humus, deodorant, frozen veggies and batteries. As I waited in line I read the label on a box of laundry detergent that the man in front of me was buying. It said, Omo (the brand name) and then underneath DIRT IS GOOD. If dirt is so good why would we want to use soap to get it out of our clothes? Hmm…

After putting my groceries away I decided to do some cooking. I cooked some barley and then used it to make two different dishes - porridge, very simple breakfast with just barley and oats and then a beef barley soup. I also fixed my humus for the next few days. I can’t say I made it because the only effort I put into fixing it was opening the can and mixing in a little pepper and lemon juice.

It’s only 5:30.. I just prayed maghrib and am now sitting down on my couch with one of my cans of 7Up free and laptop. Once I get this posted I’ll do a little work on my lesson plans, not this week but for my last week of teaching before winter break. This upcoming Thursday is Literary Day which means that all students and staff will be dressing up like a character from a book. I’ve chosen my book and character outfit but am choosing to not tell in hopes that you will continue to read my blog.

Countdown update: Two weeks from right now, I will be getting off the plane at Bradley International and meeting my dad at baggage claim, inshAllah. I can’t wait!

I posted new pictures of my students' work. The new ones are pictures 17-27.

Just another day at the beach

Today I spent the afternoon at a cookout in Fahaheel, Kuwait. Rana’s family rented some space on Mangaf Beach and invited me to join them. As we drove up to the park I couldn’t believe just how many cars and families were already there and had the same idea. I don’t blame them; the weather was absolutely perfect. The temperature has been in the mid 70s all week and today was nice combination of sunny and partly cloudy. While 70 degrees sounds nice and warm, most people there were in heavier clothing, sweatshirts and so on. I suppose it’s all relative though, seeing that it is almost 5o degrees cooler than when I first arrived back in August.

Rana’s brother had arrived at the park nice and early and was able to reserve eight round tables right on the edge of the picnic area, looking out over the Gulf and right next to a boardwalk along the beach. While the male members of Rana’s family prepared the kabobs, I sat and chit chatted with several of her family members who I have met during Ramadan. It was so nice to spend the day outside and be surrounded by such a happy and friendly family.

There were around 20 adults, 10 children and 4 maids at our picnic area. The food was delicious! They made barbecued beef, spicy grilled chicken, kabobs and this really delicious pita with meat in the middle. Rana brought some delicious tabouli, sides of humus, baba ganoush and other salads. I ate so much… and that was just lunch.

I didn’t realize we were celebrating a birthday until one of the women brought out a beautiful chocolate cake from Mr. Baker and started trying to light four little airplane candles. We ended up singing Happy Birthday twice (each time we sang the song twice – once in English, once in Arabic) because the breeze from the ocean made it difficult to keep the candles lit. The birthday boy was very cute and shy, having so many people singing to him. The dessert table was just as impressive as our lunch. There were two cakes from Mr. Baker, along with some homemade donut holes rolled in coconut and sprinkles, a chocolate chip cake, muffins and a dessert made with Pakistani noodles, pistachio and cream.

The park was filled with families, gathered around and cooking all sorts of delicious food. It felt like a commercial.. kids were running around, playing soccer and cricket on the boardwalk, some men were fishing off the edge of the pier and it seemed like every other woman who walked by was pregnant. It was such a great day, Alhamdulillah.

One of the things I love most about being here in Kuwait is not having to worry about where I can pray. We stayed at Mangaf Beach from around 1:30 until 6:30 which meant that the athans for Asr and Maghrib from the nearby mosques were called. There were two small buildings for praying, one for men and one for women. While walking back to our tables, Rana and I could see that the men’s building was filled and there were 5-6 lines of 10-15 men in each outside the building, praying on the bare earth. It really was a beautiful sight.

This was a really nice change from my usual Fridays spent inside my apartment, catching up on sleep and lesson planning. I am so thankful that I have met such wonderful people in Kuwait and have the opportunity to be a part of a family here while mine is so far away.

Countdown update: two weeks from right now (9 PM Kuwait time) I will be getting ready to hail a taxi and head to the airport for my 12:20 AM departure to Washington D.C., inshAllah.

What a good week

It may have taken me 12 weeks but I think I finally have this teaching thing down. Don’t get me wrong, my students have been learning and I have had my share of successful lessons and activities since September, however, this week just came together so well and helped show me that all of my hard work is paying off. Alhamdulillah.

My first sign was a routine math fluency assessment, an activity that we have been doing since mid September - something that some students love and others hate. I can remember back to Ms. Nestico’s third grade class and “holey cards” where we would review our math facts and race to beat the clock. That was back in the days when I felt good about my math skills, far before Algebra 2 and crying my way through Pre-Calculus. I can sympathize with my students, those who love the activity and those who hate it as I have straddled that line many times.

Since September I have watched one of my students, K, the only one who is on a modified program (which means that I am changing more than 50% if the grade level curriculum)change from groaning when I announce fact fluency practice to giving himself a pep talk before we begin. He is seated at the front of the room so that I can easily assist him with reading and other activities. Just this week, as I watched the stopwatch click its way down, K shouted “I did it! I finished!” This little boy, who struggled to complete 18 out of the 25 problems back just a few weeks ago completed and correctly answered 25 out of 25.

Being the overly emotional person that I am, a trait that runs through the blood of all Minors, I got teary eyed at seeing his success. As I announced to Ms. Rana just how proud I was of my 4th graders and to give themselves a pat on their back for learning so much, K said, “Ms., if you’re so happy why are you about to cry?” I then explained that sometimes people cry happy tears and that I couldn’t be prouder of all of them.

When meeting with my principal to go over my Professional Learning Plan, an extensive reflective assessment where teachers evaluate their strengths and pinpoint areas they want to work to improve, I shared the success I was seeing in my classroom. I discussed the behavior charts and how one student went from getting 4-5 sad faces(I need to work harder on being quiet and calm) a day to earning that many in a week. We also talked about the positive impact of shortening the school day for one student has made on my teaching and student learning. My principal said, “now that the behavior is under control, they can learn”. It’s true. I no longer am spending 80-90% of my time redirecting or reviewing my classroom expectations. I still identify the students who are modeling positive behaviors, state exactly what I want my students to be doing and move their name tags accordingly under the smiley, middle or sad faces on the board, but I can now actually get through my lessons. In fact on Tuesday, I finished my first complete math lesson of the year!

Right now in Social Studies we are learning about the seven continents. For homework, I assigned a short poem to help them remember the names and locations of the continents.

The Seven Continents
North America, South America joined in the west
Europe and Asia meet together and on Africa they rest
Australia stands alone, floating down below
And Antarctica is the loneliest where no one wants to go.

Yesterday, six out of my seven students proudly stood in front of the classroom and recited the poem from memory. Once they finished, they anxiously looked over to see my reaction and wait for their praise for a job well done. I began doing power point presentations on each of the continents and will continue next week. Now that I feel I have a hold on the behavior problems, I’ve found so much more time and energy to really put into my teaching. I’ve (finally) started integrating technology into my classroom and have been able to engage my students in my lessons.

All in all, a wonderful week. Only two more to go and it’ll be a 4-week vacation back in Connecticut :)

Imaginary Friends

On a typical day during break my students separate into two groups. Three or four, depending on the day, will join the 5th graders and sit against the wall, talking about wrestling moves or PSP games. The rest usually cluster together somewhere in the middle of the playground and chat about what flavor juice their mom or maid packed. Today I noticed one of my students sitting at the far end of the playground all alone. I assumed that he was trying to hide a nice piece of chocolate or some kind of delicious treat that students are not allowed to bring to school. As I walked over I quickly scanned his Wall-E lunchbox and couldn’t see anything beyond his normal mini-sized egg sandwiches and juice box. After asking him why he chose to sit alone and he looked up and said, “I probably shouldn’t tell…” Curious as to what had happened or who hit him in line while my back was turned, I pressed on with my questions. Turns out, my student was not dining alone but rather was enjoying the company of his imaginary friend.

I can’t remember having imaginary friends when I was little. Sure, I believed that my teddy bear Amanda would come alive at night and play in my room while I was asleep but I think that was the extent of my imaginary playmates. My sister Heather, on the other hand, had three imaginary friends – Frankie, Kevin and another one whose name neither she nor I can remember. I always liked listening to my mom talk about Heather’s tea parties with her imaginary friends and her surprise when one day Heather nonchalantly said that she wouldn’t need her usual four cookies, since one of her friends had died.

Brenna, my niece, also has a vivid imagination. In her collection of imaginary friends there is Dragon, a nice dragon whose mom cuts his nails so he won’t scratch and hurt Brenna, her two sisters Meena and Anna who live in Florida and who could forget her oh so special husband Michael (aka the fire truck floaty pool toy that Brenna married a year or so ago).

I suppose the reason I never created or played with imaginary friends was because I was lucky enough to have a built in playmate and older sister who lived only one bedroom away. Although Heather and I went through our fair share of fighting and time outs in the corner we would almost always end up sneaking across the dining room to sit and play together in front of one of the heating vents until the kitchen timer went off, letting us know that we had served our time.

I smiled while walking away from my student, wondering what kind of conversation or scenario was playing through his head. On the playground I couldn’t help but think of how sweet he and his imaginary friend were, however, his friend wasn’t quite as cute later on during the day when during my spelling lesson, “he told me to be loud and calling out”. What an imagination…

For your entertainment

Everyday I spend 10-15 minutes reading from James and the Giant Peach to my class. This may be the first activity which they all really seem to enjoy. This week we learned how to write a friendly letter. I told them that if they gave their best effort that James might write back - therefore, I will be spending my weekend responding to the following seven letters. I will do my best to disguise my handwriting, even though I know the boys will catch on. I can remember how my sister and I would always look forward to our letter from Santa with the mysterious block letters and cursive signature that looked strangely similar to my father's writing.

I would like to share their work and I hope you enjoy these letters as much as I have. I've translated a few words, written inside the parentheses to help you out. Please take a look at the last letter. It comes from my student who normally sits and waits for the day to pass by and who I haven't been able to get excited about learning, until James and the Giant Peach and this writing assignment.

Dear James Henry Trotter.
My name is A___. I am good with my frnind (friend) and I be good with you and I not hit any budy and I sorry. for lating (I think he meant losing) your mothe , and dad die. What is it fun for with inceicet (insects)? and you have brothers and, sisters? whiat is your favairet movie? but wow how you got enside the peach! From me, A__
James can you please write me a later? your friend: A __
Your friend?
A__

Dear James Henry Trotter,
My name is H__, nice to meet you James. How are you. I love playing soccer, baseball and more. I am 9 to 10 years old. James, will you be my friend please, really. Please write to me a letter if you want me.
Your friend,
H___
Were you proud that aunt sponge and aunt spiker died, tell me.

Dear James Henry Trotter,
My name is S__. I am 10 years old. My favorite movie is madness combat. My favorite is videogame. Is the peach big. Did aunt sponge and aunt spiker see the gaint peach is rolling on them? I mean that James see the peach big. Do you like peach? James please write me a letter.
Not your friend,
S____

Dear James Henry Trotter,
M name is A__ I am nine years old and I good of computer and good of writing and how you get down the peach also how you a bugs? And you are an actor and pleas cold you give me a leter.
your friend,
A__

Dear James Henry Trotter,
My name is Z__. I like kickball and planes and buses and trains and boats and spaceships. Why areyou horible aunts like this they. They allwas (always) tell you to do orders. my age is 9 years old see you James. Will you pleas write me a letter? Your friend Z__ and tell your aunts to be nice t you.

Dear James Henry Trotter,
My name is Mr. T__ I like to play soccer match. I like to play wll my friends. I like school. you like a peach? You are fat or no? you like music. I like math. Wow you are 22 years you so good splier yes or no. you like school? me no? you? James will you please write me a letter? I LOVE ME
T____

Dear James Henry Trotter,
Dear James. I will be 10 years old at January 5. I was born at 1999. My name is S __. Do you wish to tell your aunts how you feel! Did you cry when your aunts did not allow you to eat the peech? Why were you afariad of the creatures. Do you like them now? Are you 315 pounds? James will please writ me a lettr? Your friend S__. Wher you crying when you wran (ran) over your aunts diead? Will you be frends with the bugs? Will you stay with an enemy? Will you bebest frends with the irth werm and spider and the lady bug and grass hoper? When you wher cuting the peech wher you afrade that your aunts eat the gient peech they a crazy or not? Wher you afraid when you wher in the peech and the peech got into the water yes of no? when the peech got in the water did you wished to swim? yes or no? when the peech got in the woter wher you breatheing yes or no? did the spider breathe yes or no? did the lady bug cry did she breathe or she did not wher her eyes? Did the erth worm was scared or not did she breathe or no or she did not breathe when the peech got out of the water or she cod (could) of died? When the peech brake the building and farms.

Sticks and Stones

We've all heard the saying, "Stick and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me." Well, I beg to differ.

For some unknown reason, today was the day a select few of my students chose to express themselves and publicly announce their dislike for the school and me as their teacher. While sharing our morning work, one student's response to the question "what is your favorite thing about school?" was "My favorite part of school is PE and I don't like Ms. Rubakha". While there very well could be a teacher somewhere out there with a unique spelling of a somewhat common name who yells at her students and gives them tons of homework, but something told me that this little boy had me in mind while writing that answer. Oh right, he did. As he stood in the front of the classroom with me by his side, he read his answer out loud and then looked up to see my reaction. I'm not exactly sure what kind of expression my face held but I do know that the bluntness and publicity of his answer took me by surprise. While I could hear one of my favorite professor's voices saying "it's just a behavior, it's not personal" I segued into a short mini discussion about how it is good to express our feelings but we should remain respectful and think about how our words might make others feel. That was Period 1.

By the time Period 3 rolled around we had successfully taken all of our individual and group pictures for the yearbook and had moved on to reviewing our weekly spelling words. Unfortunately, one of my students earned two sad faces (I need to work harder at being calm and quiet) and one middle face (My behavior was just ok)which meant that he did not earn the privilege of eating his snack with his friends. After an explanation of how I do not give the smiley faces but rather they are earned depending on behavior, I was asked why I came to Kuwait. He proceeded to tell me that he wished I never left America and that I should go home because he hates fourth grade. "It's just a behavior, it's not personal.. it's just a behavior, it's not personal..."

Sure, sticks and stones can break my bones and words may never hurt me; however, I do believe they can sting a little.

Smiley faces and feeling successful

It has been a while since I have posted. Ms. Rebecca’s fourth grade class has been very busy. A field trip to the fish market, an awards assembly and performance as well as a change to the classroom behavior rewards system.

Our field trip was a lot of fun. Although the sea food smell was a bit overwhelming for some of the boys, we had the opportunity to see a variety of seafood. Crabs, lobsters, oysters, eels, shrimp, squid – you name it, it was there. Fortunately or unfortunately we went in the morning which meant that we missed the 3:00 auction with all the seafood sellers. We got a chance to see some of the fisherman returning from the Gulf with their bins of fish and other goods to sell. My students purchased their fruits and vegetables, along with some other snack essentials at the produce stand and supermarket next door to the fish market. The following day we made ants on a log – celery stalks with peanut butter and raisins for the ants along with fruit salad and apple fondue. The fondue was a really yummy and easy snack made by dipping apple slices into a mixture of peanut butter, Rise Krispies and raisins. For a Language Arts activity, we wrote out a task analysis and recipe for them to take home.

The Elementary Department holds an awards assembly every other month. Each student receives recognition for their success in either the classroom or other special courses. Classes take turns performing at the assemblies. The assembly began with a recitation from the Quran by one of the third graders. The fifth grade class then shared some of their creative writing and the second grade class performed a skit they had been working on in Arabic class. My fourth graders were the last to perform. We had been learning about nutrition and in Speech class working on using describing words for different kinds of foods. Going along with that theme, we made chef hats and my boys invited the audience of parents, students and teachers to enjoy a snack buffet. They stood in the front of the room and introduced their food and described it. “Come and eat my apples. They are fresh, crunchy, delicious and very healthy.” They did a great job and looked so cute in their hats. I’ll be posting pictures as soon as I can get my hands on them from another teacher.

We started learning about Kuwait money in our Math class. The lessons are probably as useful to my students as they are to me. The boys help point out my mistakes and think it is funny when I call the 10 fils coin a dime. In order for my students to get more practice with using money, I have given them their own bank account. They can earn various amounts of money throughout the day. Being in their seat when the first bell rings, participating in class and choosing to stand up to a bully and help out a friend. We have a huge problem with teasing and bullying which has carried on from previous years. So far, they have responded well to being able to earn “money” and are looking forward to their secret surprise at the end of the week.

I also started two of my students on daily behavior charts. They can earn a smiley face for when they are doing a great job being calm and quiet (our two target behaviors), a middle face for when the behavior is just ok and a sad face when they need to work harder on being calm and quiet. In addition to having the charts, I posted the three faces on my whiteboard at the front of the room and move all students’ names according throughout the day. It makes for a great visual reminder. I held a meeting with the specials teachers in order to talk through the charts and have had some really great success with them so far. My most challenging student didn’t get any sad faces today and he earned his second good note home of the week. For those of you who may be thinking, “What’s the big deal? It’s just a smiley face” believe me, it is a big deal. It’s a huge deal. It means that for the first time all year, more than a quarter of the way through the school year, we are making progress and getting his behavior under control. Yay!

It is hard to believe that I have been away from America, my family and my friends since August. I remember stepping off the plane thinking, “what on Earth am I doing here?” Although I still catch myself wondering what I was thinking moving so far away, I feel so much more comfortable than I expected. I have gotten to know my neighborhood and have been able to make friends with several of the women at the masjid. I am looking forward to coming home, seeing if Bristol has changed and anxious to see green on the trees and perhaps white snow on the ground. Let my countdown begin - December 6th is only 26 days away!

Sick and solo

I am currently getting over this sore throat, fever, head cold that is going around the teachers and students at Fawzia Sultan. One would think that a 24 year old who has decided she was mature enough to move six thousand miles away from home could handle being sick by herself. Turns out, it doesn’t really work that way.

I’ve been told that I was sick throughout most of my childhood. Asthma attacks landed me in the hospital where my parents would take turns sleeping in a chair next to my bed while the other one was at home watching Heather. I also had a hip dysplasia as a baby, however, I don’t know very much about it. The correct spelling and pronunciation comes from having to write it on medical forms. Due to the power of prayer, alhamdullilah, that condition disappeared the morning of the scheduled surgery. Childhood nosebleeds, “puffers” and my asthma machine, chicken pox which my lovely sister passed on to me, along with all of the regular colds, flu and other bugs.

I was sick so often that my parents would automatically run into my bedroom upon hearing sobbing or cries for Mommy or the throw up bucket. Just ask Heather, she likes to remind us all once in a while about “that time when I was sick but you went running into Becca’s room…”. I remember how great it was being sick. My mom would make a nice bed for me on the couch, complete with blankets and my pillow, constant kisses on my forehead and dry toast with a tiny bit of butter or jelly to settle my stomach. Grammy would bring Raspberry Flavored GingerAle to settle my stomach and I would get to spend the day sleeping or watching TV.

All of those perks disappear when you’re sick and living alone. I could tell that I was getting sick earlier this week. It started with a sore throat and quickly moved into a sleepless Tuesday night, complete with 101 degree fever. I missed having someone to baby me like I have been used to for so many years. Instead, I propped my laptop up against my knees and talked on google to some friends. I wrote some lesson plans and was sure to keep a box of tissues, some water and the thermometer within reach on my night side stand. I tried my best to fall asleep, knowing that I had seven boys who were expecting me to take them on our first field trip of the year and wondering how I was going to manage in my current state.

I eventually gave up on sleep and instead decided to call my parents with Skype. The time difference worked out pretty well. 3:15 AM Kuwait time meant 8:15 PM Connecticut time. Somehow just hearing my parents’ voices and seeing their faces helped me relax and start to feel better. By the end of our 40 minute conversation I could tell that my fever was breaking and I was ready to call it a night, well morning. We said goodbye and I fell asleep instantly.

Although the sleep was short lived, a measly two and a half hours, it was great. After getting on the teacher bus and attempting to say “good morning” to another teacher I realized that my voice was not all there. My students thought my voice was funny, teasing and calling me Gramma. The field trip was wonderful and miserable at the same time. The lack of sleep, running nose and alternating hot flashes and shivers plus seven boys with space to roam made for one long but really great day. InshAllah I’ll post about it very soon. I took a nice three hour nap after getting home, woke up to eat some dinner and watch a few television shows and then went to bed for the night around 8.

Alhamdullilah, I feel so much better now. The school nurse gave me some antibiotics and I have been able to rest and catch up on sleep. My voice is still silly, which I am sure will elicit some laughs tomorrow if it remains. While being sick when you’re older and living by yourself isn’t much fun, it is still nice to know that your friends and family can make you feel better, even when half way around the world.