Frida Kahlo

ST 3, 2015

                                                                       Frida  Kahlo 

I have a little child in my class, very bright very happy and  full of life. She loves to draw, read and even write little essays of her own. Of late we have been seeing a slight change in her. She seemed a bit sad a bit disturbed and a little distracted. Sure enough the mother wanted to meet me and discuss a few issues. 

     Mother said that because her daughter has uni brow , she is being teased by other children in the class and in the play field and  she hates herself now and hates her brows and wants to get it shaped in a beauty parlour which obviously at 6 is not possible ! The mother was desperate and sad and wanted me to handle the situation as her daughter refused to come to school. 

      When you are a teacher, you are not just a teacher, you are a mother, friend, Counselor , a story teller  all rolled into one !! I thought to myself what to do, to make this little child regain her confidence back and bring in her joy  . I am as always against sermonizing, I did not want to talk to the class and say that each human being is beautiful and your friend with uni brow is so beautiful etc. at the same time I was not able to figure out how to solve the issue. 

 Well the very next day an idea struck me and  I introduced the lovely artist and my favourite, Frida Kahlo  to my class . I told them her story of pain , of adventure and how she faced everything, what a great artist she was, I showed her paintings to the class, I asked the children to get information about her from home, they brought in show and tell . We had a power point presentation on Frida. The whole class became her fan and every one tried to copy her style and incorporate their own imagination into it. But my problem was still not solved. Then Eureka !!!!! one day , a little child  just spoke out and said " We have a Frida in our class" she pointed towards our little girl with uni brow. Everybody instantly looked at her and some said how lucky she is !! I knew I did not have to worry any more, the problem was solved !

  Now the  little girl with the uni brow is not only happy and back to herself but she is very proud of her self and the way she looks and also considers herself an artist with imaginary creative talent in her. She feels she is baby Frida . She has told her mother never again is she ever going to even think of getting her eye brows shaped not even when she is an adult because Frida too was happy and proud of herself .

  From this whole interesting experience the class learnt that every one is special in their own ways, they also learnt that looks do not matter, what matters is your great work and hard work, they learnt that never to loose heart and find happiness in what ever you have just like Frida . They learnt about Frida's art, her hard ship and how she fought with her pain and yet kepy painting and kept finding joy with in.

 As for my little girl with uni brow , well she paints, feels happy , he is flying high and is the most confident child around

                                                                       Frida  Kahlo 

I have a little child in my class, very bright very happy and  full of life. She loves to draw, read and even write little essays of her own. Of late we have been seeing a slight change in her. She seemed a bit sad a bit disturbed and a little distracted. Sure enough the mother wanted to meet me and discuss a few issues. 

     Mother said that because her daughter has uni brow , she is being teased by other children in the class and in the play field and  she hates herself now and hates her brows and wants to get it shaped in a beauty parlour which obviously at 6 is not possible ! The mother was desperate and sad and wanted me to handle the situation as her daughter refused to come to school. 

      When you are a teacher, you are not just a teacher, you are a mother, friend, Counselor , a story teller  all rolled into one !! I thought to myself what to do, to make this little child regain her confidence back and bring in her joy  . I am as always against sermonizing, I did not want to talk to the class and say that each human being is beautiful and your friend with uni brow is so beautiful etc. at the same time I was not able to figure out how to solve the issue. 

 Well the very next day an idea struck me and  I introduced the lovely artist and my favourite, Frida Kahlo  to my class . I told them her story of pain , of adventure and how she faced everything, what a great artist she was, I showed her paintings to the class, I asked the children to get information about her from home, they brought in show and tell . We had a power point presentation on Frida. The whole class became her fan and every one tried to copy her style and incorporate their own imagination into it. But my problem was still not solved. Then Eureka !!!!! one day , a little child  just spoke out and said " We have a Frida in our class" she pointed towards our little girl with uni brow. Everybody instantly looked at her and some said how lucky she is !! I knew I did not have to worry any more, the problem was solved !

  Now the  little girl with the uni brow is not only happy and back to herself but she is very proud of her self and the way she looks and also considers herself an artist with imaginary creative talent in her. She feels she is baby Frida . She has told her mother never again is she ever going to even think of getting her eye brows shaped not even when she is an adult because Frida too was happy and proud of herself .

  From this whole interesting experience the class learnt that every one is special in their own ways, they also learnt that looks do not matter, what matters is your great work and hard work, they learnt that never to loose heart and find happiness in what ever you have just like Frida . They learnt about Frida's art, her hard ship and how she fought with her pain and yet kepy painting and kept finding joy with in.

 As for my little girl with uni brow , well she paints, feels happy , he is flying high and is the most confident child around 

 LEARNING THROUGH FUN
Last year when I got busy with other hobbies and interest my blog suffered but that does not mean interesting things were not happening in my Elementary Grade 1 class. An Encyclopedia as a Show and Tell brought in so much excitement and new learning that it got way beyond class room curriculum teaching . Flipping the pages of the Encyclopedia I stopped at Ancient Civilizations. Even for a second I did not think that it would be too difficult for my 6 year olds to understand. I brought it down to their level and it was so much fun knowing how civilizations developed around rivers. Obviously Egyptian civilization was talked about, the mummies, the pyramids etc. The stories and legends wow! there was so much to know and learn about. Tutankhamen became our latest hero !!
 Then one day a little girl brought a small chart with weird pictures  of half man with a cat head, a woman with a goat head , there were giggle all over obviously the child whose show and tell it was felt offended and then she started to speak. These were all the Egyptian Gods and Goddesses . It became so interesting for the class and every child associated himself or herself with each God. Different situations were handled with the help of these majestic Gods I did not have to interfere in fights the Egyptian Gods sorted out their problems through their legends . 
Ra the Sun God became very popular, He could solve all problems just by keeping ones eyes shut Ra would have an answer for all . Bastet was loved by all the girls because Bastet  helped in celebrations and parties. My little girls would pray to Bastes for happy times and happy play dates . Bastet as they knew loves kids and looks after children, they all felt very comfortable with Bastes in their heart. Prayers to Hathor would be answered whenever there was an issue of 'He is not being my friend or she does does not like me etc" Ma'at ,Goddess of justice truth and order, was my , the teacher's savior all the time . 
       What an enriching experience we all had, a small show and tell became a big learning. I always feel , it is very crazy and silly to have a general knowledge class for kids per say as a curriculum, general knowledge can be  imparted to the kids , through every day talk and experiences like this, experience of learning about the Egyptian Gods. Would my kids have ever learnt about these Gods if I had to make them sit and teach? NEVER ! At 6 these children knew about these Gods and brought them into their everyday life helping them solve their problems. 
           What an enriching experience for me too,as I  learnt so much about this rich ancient civilization in an interesting exciting manner. Thank you God Hathor for helping me sort out peer issues in class.

1-5 of 5 

ROSA PARKS and class1 A I have a batch of new kids who joined me in the month of April before we closed down for the summer. They are a handful lot very curious and very enthusiastic. They have many questions and they are eager to learn a lot. I always like to go beyond curriculum and think the syllabus and the course as it is every one would do and learn but for me a true educator would always go beyond and I definitely walk the talk. We started this year i.e. July with discussion on Rosa Parks. Its amazing how sensitive children can be . While I was reading out the life story ( facts) about Rosa Parks there were many little 6 year old who started crying . It was an eye opener for me to realize that little hearts are always sensitive and it is we adults and the different layers of life that makes a human being harsh and insensitive as we grow older. Rosa Parks is not only inspiring for my children but it is also a small history lesson. In today's time children cannot even imagine the discrimination one can face due to colour and race.   The life story of Rosa Parks is so inspiring for the children , they not only learnt about equality but also a very big life lesson came out of this inspiring lesson -- to stand up for one self , that is what Rosa did . Now my children would actually respect themselves for what they are and will be able to handle the bullies by standing up for themselves like Rosa did for herself and for many others like her.   After finishing the book on Rosa Parks my children drew her portrait, the innocence of the children came out in their drawing where they have drawn Rosa with pink , yellow black and peach skin colour, her colour does not matter to them , what matters to them the most was that she stood up for herself and no one could bully her , they tried to be mean ,she fell but she stood up !! I am so proud of my children ! Class1 A salutes Rosa Parks for her courage, her sensitivity and integrity !

SORRY

Its been years that wrote on my blog, shame on me. Many new things happened in my life in this gap of almost 5 years. My God I cant even believe that 5 years have passed since I wrote . Well I got caught up with art and discovered the joy of painting on trash. I have started making treasure form trash like painting on wine bottles. It is so much fun and specially when people appreciate and admire and even buy my art. This is one of the reasons of my long gap. I have also got a bit hooked on to technology in a way good and in a way addictive. I have discovered Instagram , a very interesting social media where one can make lots of friends all over the world and learn about their culture and life and art and history. Well all said and done I should not have neglected my blog , the realization has come to me though late but as they say better late than never . So here I promise to write again . All about my 6 year old students who bring in so much joy and fun into my life.

Oh my God its really been so so long that I have written in my blog. Somehow I just do not get time but there is so much share. My new batch of kids came to me a year back in the month of April 2010 and it is already time for them to leave and move on to Form 2, cant believe . This is a sad time of the year as the little babies with whom I bond so well they leave and move on , yes cant hold them on . They come back almost everyday to give me a hug and how much I love it.In 2010 as my kids left and went to grade 2 I wrote this poem for them which I will share with you tomorrow , I gave a copy of each to them and the parents were really touched.
Today I returned from school late and I also have invited people for dinner so I am a bit busy will post my farewell poem tomorrow. Bye for now

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Yesterday I watched the movie Juli and Julia and was fascinated by the idea of blogging , I had heard that people have their own blogs , people like Amitabh Bachchan , Mark Parkinson ( director of my school) etc so I was under the impression that only great & famous people have their own blogs but when I saw Juli blogging away & enjoying it so much I thought why not me also . The next question was what should I blog about , the one and only thing I could think of was KIDS KIDS KIDS !!!!! Having spent almost 22 years of my life in the joyous company of 6 year olds I thought I have really lead an enriched life full of fun , I have been narating anecdotes about them to whoever I met whether they liked it or not , some times I could get a very boring glance from them but I never stopped !!!
Today I start my blog writing about my biggest joy ------ being an elementary teacher !!! I am so excited !!!Oh I love the 6 year olds !