Teach Middle East Magazine May 2014 issue 1 vol. 1 | Page 20

Featured Teacher

Did they dramatise it?
Yes. It was fun. One of the earliest
challenges we faced was the language
of the speech but they enjoyed it
a lot. They had handcuffs, guns…
plastic ones! (Laughing). They are not
allowed to bring real guns to school!
So they brought moustaches and set
everything for the whole scene. They
did the scene with Rosa Parks and a
part of Mr King’s speech. They had
banners and they were calling for
freedom and equality. One of the girls
acted like Mr King. She wore a suit
and tie. It was very nice. They had one
week only to prepare for the morning
assembly and a photo gallery of the
Washington march in 1963.
What were some of the surprises
that the project revealed?
They were Grade nine girls and all
the girls worked beautifully together
even the shy ones. After the assembly,
we had the exhibition and invited the
principal and all the administrative
staff.
They had put a lot of work into doing
the research, making the posters
and banners. They used the laptop
to play some of the speech remixes.
They were so enthusiastic about it.
The principal admired their work. The
girls were so proud of themselves. I
remember one of the girls coming to
me afterwards and saying ‘Miss, we
have never done anything like this in
our lives before and I was not confident
but today you gave me a huge push
and I am so happy’. One of the other
girls sent me a note saying, ‘thank you,
Miss. You are doing a great job.’

18

May 2014

Class Time

That must have made you feel
proud…
Oh yes, very proud of them. I am proud
of what they gave us and how well they
spoke. To be honest, I felt proud of
myself too because I started teaching
because I felt that I had something to
give. Teaching is the most noble and
rewarding job in the world yet it’s the
hardest. So finally, when that happened,
I was really proud like I had something
to give and its there and I saw it! You
put your efforts into planning, preparing
the activities and lessons and yet the
results of tests frustrate you when they
don’t match what they’ve done in the
classroom. So when you get such a
result of your students, you get a bit
disappointed and you feel that all your
time has gone in vain. When you see
good results, that’s when you forget all
your tiredness and exhaustion and you
just enjoy the moment.
Your Twitter board is a really
innovative idea especially since
young people use Twitter all the
time. Was it your idea?
Yes. I use a Twitter board as a kind
of assessment or plenary at the end
of our lessons to see if they have any
questions. The students are very into
technology in general. I check it after
they leave each day to see if they have
any questions. It helps because even
the shy students who don’t talk in class
are posting tweets.
What project do you have next?
We actually did one yesterday with
my Grade 10 girls. We had a reading
lesson about alternative medicine. The
girls wanted to do a project about that

lesson. They did a dramatisation of it.
Dramatisation is interesting to some
of the students and you have to know
your students well before you choose
an activity for them. I have done a small
survey of my students to determine
whether they were visual, auditory or
kinaesthetic learners. So I can plan my
activities better. Grade ten girls love to
learn through music and drama. My
Grade nine girls enjoy discussions and
debating. They are really confident and
sometimes support their points with
research.
What is the best advice that you
have received?
(laughing) I have a few. My mom always
says that I can achieve the impossible.
I just need to organise my time and be
more focused. My principal, Mr Sallam
always encourages me to never be
afraid to try new methods. He says that
we should go and try it and not to be
afraid of a challenge.