My February Professioanl Development Workshops
Date: February 14th, 2009
Name: Fatma El Sakhawy
February Professional Development Workshops
Whenever I attend such kind of workshops, I have two good motivating feelings: One feeling is personal as it rotates around socializing, getting to know new people, and spending good time with the few people I have known in Chicago plus getting more time to know them more. The other rotates around learning new things and benefiting each other in one way or the other. These two feelings always drive me to such meetings with a lot of happiness and enthusiasm. I can say that what I have always aspired for has been reached as I have known new people and my social circle has widened as well as the learning and the professional benefit which is attained every time I go to such meetings to a certain extent .
In February, the Arabic teachers met in two professional development workshops. The first was on February 4th in Walter Paylon Prep High School from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm. It was a swap shop where Arabic teachers exchanged strategies and lessons for teaching Arabic, applying the five C’s and the Illinois Foreign Language standards. In this swap shop each teacher demonstrated a lesson plan and which standards were applied in this lesson. Mrs. Ali and I demonstrated two of our lesson plans and I talked about the standards which we have put into consideration while preparing for the lesson and while teaching it.
The first lesson was the holiday’s Arabic song that we have taught before the Christmas Holidays. We gave copies of our lesson plan associated with its handouts, talked about the objectives and the cultural aspect behind the lesson, the effect of that lesson on our students during the lesson and after it, and the five C’s achieved in this lesson. Mrs. Fadwa Hassan and the World language department employees attending the workshop asked us to sing the song and we did. My last question, in other words my closure for our demo to the world Language employees was to tell me the Arabic words they remember from the song and it was great to find that they remember the word Eid, Marhab, and Ahlan. It was real fun and I think successful as some teachers asked me to send them the clip I have for that song.
The other lesson we demonstrated was about adjectives and demonstrative pronouns (hatha and hathehee) and the relation between these words and the concept of feminine and masculine in the Arabic language. We also mentioned in this demonstration how we related between our new words and old ones such as the five personal subject pronouns. We represented also the concept of changing our teaching tools sometimes and our techniques from one class to the other according to the students’ levels and interaction. I focused on this point as I believe that a teacher should be flexible in dealing with her lesson plans without of course changing the objectives. This flexibility rotates around changing her teaching style and pace according to her recipients and for their benefit.
We were the first to present our demo, and then others followed. I can say that most of them were well prepared and their lesson plans and the discussion that followed benefited us all to a great extent. That is why I suggested that a web site for the CPS World Language teachers and especially Arabic would be a great idea that would help all teachers in finding a source they can go to for ideas, handouts and activities.
Generally speaking, I can say that most demos were good, but there is nothing like attending a real class as I believe students as the main factor in any lesson are the ones who stimulate the teacher and enable her to excel and innovate while teaching. Demos in general lack this vital factor and thus they are never the same as a real class lesson.
The second workshop held in Lindblom High school was on February 13th from 8:30 am to 2:30 pm. It was titled “K-12 Flagship Arabic Curriculum: Orientation & Teacher Training “. The presenter was Dr. Wafa Hassan, A Michigan State University Professor. The presentation focused on the curriculum some university Arabic teachers have developed and how the five C’s are applied in every lesson in order to reach proficiency in the Arabic Language. Copies of this curriculum were available and the discussion we had around that curriculum was very beneficial. I think that this curriculum is a very good step towards unifying the teaching of the Arabic Language. It is also a very good source for any teacher as a lot of ideas and activities are available. Also, the sequence of the lessons are very well designed and well developed. Unfortunately, only copies were given to the CPS High school teachers and when the CPS elementary teachers asked for copies they had to fill a paper promising that they will use only within their school borders and that they have to fill in a survey which includes their feedback every quarter. Mrs. Wafa Hassan explained that this survey would help them to develop the curriculum, to add to it or change some of its weak elements. Unfortunately, Mrs. Ali wasn’t there to sign this form, but I told Mrs. Fadwa Hassan that I will let her contact her in order to have a copy of that valuable source.
Were my two mentioned feelings fulfilled in these two meetings? Certainly, they were as the benefit I get from my colleagues is definitely established. Any idea or endeavor I hear from them, or complaint, or even the different teaching experiences they have enable me to evaluate where I do stand and help me to gain knowledge. However, it makes me feel very unfortunate because I always feel bitterness as I have the worst teaching experience. I am the only exchange teacher, together with my mentor teacher and another CPS Elementary stage Arabic teacher, who does teach Arabic only once. Also, I and my mentor teacher don’t have our classroom but move from one class to the other and are not able to display Arabic posters or our teaching material. Maybe my bitterness is more than my mentor’s because I am here for one year and I would never have the time to see changes taking place in Peck School in years to come. Still, I can say that my hope is to correct the mistake for others who would come after me.
Also, these meetings and workshops give me the opportunity to meet new people and to socialize with those whom I know, but only meet in these workshops. It enables us in our lunch time or breaks to know more about each other. We also have fun as for example yesterday in the second workshop Mrs. Fadwa Hassan asked Mr. Mohamed, our Arabic exchange teache , to sing Arabic songs and we all joined him in the singing. We all felt a great connection to our culture and enjoyed these few moments. We all felt like one and knew that despite our differences there are many beautiful common things that connect us together.
Briefly, I can say that these February workshops were very beneficial to me and lessened my feelings of homesickness and frustration which has led to my sickness. I am really worried about how my stomach aches me every now and then. There is no pattern for that pain as it comes for no reason and goes also suddenly and for no reason. I feel it has to do with the stress I am living in and the feeling of bitterness which I try to hide even from myself. If it comes again, I will go to see a doctor, but I hope it doesn’t. Nevertheless, I can say that I am still trying to be positive and will never give it up as I have always been a fighter who never gives in. I hope the few months left will pass without any regrets and that when I go back home I will remember only the good times, things, and moments that I have felt , seen and lived during my experience in America. These events, like these workshops, the Arabic circle, and other few social events in my life are the spots of light that keep me going and determined to continue till the end. I hope that this positive side of me will overcome the other side ,which believe me, I never planned or wished to live here or anywhere as my nature has never driven me to be passive or to throw my feelings on anything but myself. Forgive me if I talked about those negative feelings here in my blog, but I found that talking about those negative feelings every now and then might help me to keep on going as it is very hard to keep such pain inside without sharing it with someone even if it is only through writing about them. I apologize again dear colleagues and readers, but take it from its positive point and be thankful as I know and hope that your daily teaching experiences are much better than mine. Thank God for what you have as I do thank God for what I have as God have surely given me many outlets to compensate me for what I am going through!! To me, Failure to achieve in my career and work what I have longed and planned for is greatly frustrating as work has always formed a great and important part of my life. My work achievements and career have always been an element of satisfaction, joy and success in my life and has never been otherwise. This is what I am trying to achieve here and will continue trying as work constitutes a great part of my being!!!!!
Thank You & Happy Valentine's
Fatma El Sakhawy
A Different DAY!!!!
Date: February 9th, 2009
Name : Fatma El Sakhawy
A Different Day!!!!
Today, February 9th was a memorable day in my life here in America!! Although it was a very tiring, hectic day as I started work at 9:00 am and continued until 3:45 pm, my morale was very high and this gave me a lot of power to keep on going until the last moment. I really could have kept on doing that enjoyable task for more hours to come!! I met five different 6 grade classes who all knew about my visit to their school and had different attitudes which were all challenging to me!!
The first group consisted of students who were very welcoming and receptive! Their minds, hearts and feelings were with me from the first moment. This was challenging because, I had to prove to them that they were not mistaken, that their positive attitude should and must be rewarded. They should and must enjoy my presentation; they should not repent having that attitude towards someone they don’t know!! I am really very thankful to this group as their unconditional feelings towards that stranger, me, made me realize the great responsibility I have not only towards them , but also towards any visitor who might come after me and present to this group. I really thank this group as they helped me a lot to feel welcomed and ready to face the other two groups!! They were my supporters from the start and they fueled my enthusiasm, which was already there, with their love, acceptance and their warm receptive and positive feelings!!!
The second group consisted of those students whose feelings were coated with neutrality!! They neither showed interest nor resentment. They were cautious towards that visitor who is coming to talk to them about a world which they know little about or they are not that much interested in knowing about. Their looks triggered me to make my presentation as interesting as possible. I had to attract their attention to me at first as a guest whom they should like to listen to! The only way to do so is to be very receptive to them, to let them feel that I like being with them, to be interested in what they know and what they want to say. I had to break the ice and thank God I did. The shortest way in my opinion is to make them know that I appreciate their caution and that I am ready to hear what they really think my presentation would be about. I also had to introduce myself in the best way I can and to be very receptive and to act naturally and rationally to all their comments. This I did by listening to their expectations, their knowledge about my world and my people, and what they really wish to know about my world, if any!!! I also explained to them the importance of being receptive to any kind of new knowledge and that being cautious is a good thing as this means that they are rational people who wait and observe cautiously before evaluating anything.
The third group is the easiest one because the first and the second group enabled me to address a big number of audiences who were ready to receive what I do intend to give!!! Their positivity and rationality respectively would support me and enable me to face the negativity of that group. The positive and enthusiastic feelings they gave me enabled me to be a good presenter who is full of readiness and care to prove to this third group that their expectations and their negative perceptions were really not solidly based. The positive atmosphere really triggered me to do my best and as moments passed, I found that the number of that group was diminishing!! Also, another thing that helped me to face that difficulty bravely is that as a teacher, my profession has taught me that it is very normal in life and of course in classrooms, which is another sample of real life, to encounter these three types and only the presenter’s ability to address his audience, is the only path for him towards achievement! The presenter has to accept and respect his audience point of views! It is important that to all those three types, I should be able to transmit information and data that they didn’t know. Then, it is of equal importance for a presenter to help those listening and watching him to form an opinion about what they have learned. What is important is to learn, learn and learn as this stored information would remain in their minds and would later benefit them in forming a stance in life. It is important for any presenter to know that what he\she is doing will never be in vain. This belief in itself is the main trigger for any person to continue doing what he believes is right and of value!! It is the trigger that enhances him to search for the best media that would help him to be a good transmitter to his receivers.
After all what I have said, I have to say that it is important to choose your topic, but what is more important is to choose carefully the media and the tools that you will use to that kind of audience. It is important to know who your audiences are and to believe that they should be addressed with all the respect any human must be given.
Oh, I haven’t talked about the topic of my presentation and the tools I used for it. The topic was about the Arab world as a world which is not that weird or strange, but a world which has all the components that any world has!! It is a world of dreams, hopes, frustrations, defects, enlightening aspects, and great achievements!! It is a world where people don’t differ that much from the rest of humanity. It is a world that has its positive as well as its negative aspects! It is world of mystery to some, not because it is mysterious, but because it is unknown to some!! I showed them our world, with its geography, population, heritage, and modern life through choosing six clips about six Arab countries: Egypt, Palestine, Tunisia, Jordan, Syria and Iraq. I tried as much as I can to include in those clips all the components of life that shape any world and its aspirations for a better future. We sang, danced, watched, talked and listened. I listened to them as much as they have listened to me!! I wish I had more time, but I am happy that I had the opportunity to meet new students and to help in shaping their opinion about my world. I wish I would have more chances and opportunities to repeat that experience again and to share others in forming the bases for a better understanding between the people of the United States and my people!!!!
At the end, I should thank Marquette Elementary School administration who welcomed my presence and gave me the chance to go through that challenging and very rewarding experience. I should thank The CPS World Language Department, which through their periodical meetings with Arabic teachers, gave us the opportunity to know each other and to arrange for such visits. Moreover, I direct a word of gratitude to my mentor and team teacher, Mrs. Ali, who has helped me to arrange for that visit and presentation. Furthermore, and with all the respect and appreciation, I would like to thank Mrs. Yasseen, the Arabic teacher in Marquette School , who welcomed my presence among her students and who really trusted me and enabled me to go through such a great experience!! I finally, I do thank the American Councils and its great staff who have encouraged us from the beginning to search for such opportunities and have told us that it is mostly preferable and acceptable.
Thanks
Fatma El Sakhawy
The IRC Conference
Peck Elementary School
Presented by : Mrs. El Sakhawy
To: School Administration
Subject: Report of The IRC Conference sessions attended
Date: Monday, January 12th, 2009
First I would like to say that the sessions that I have attended on Friday, January 9th, 2009 were all beneficial to me as an English teacher as well as a temporarily Arabic teacher in Peck School. All the sessions I have attended which were four rotated about activities and how to engage students in the learning process and the effect of that high involvement in their learning and their grasp for the Language they are being taught.
I didn’t have a chance to see the exhibit and to have a thorough look at the material exhibited. Thus, I cannot give my opinion about it!!!! This was due to the fact that I went only for one day and the sessions I planned to attend were all one after the other. The time span between one and the other was very limited and thus I could not have a look at the exhibit.
The first session, held in the Ballroom at 9:00 am to 10:00 was a great start as the speaker topic, Else Hamayan, was a very interesting one as it rotated around how to engage students in writing and to make them good writers . The topic was titled: “Readers Writing and Writers Reading: That’s What It’s All About”.
The speaker’s focus was to connect between reading and writing and how each teacher when reading with her students or teaching them how to read, should ask herself what is the writing activity she should develop from that reading for her students.
The speaker gave a lot of activities and techniques that a teacher can use in her class to achieve the target of developing a good writer who loves writing and doesn’t perceive it as a difficult task. Some of these activities are:
1. Mimic writing such as:
• making children share in making all of the labels needed for the class by making students copying them from a list that the teacher provides
• making students copy from the board all the messages to be sent home
2. Let students write their own stories and encourage them by publishing these stories and adding them to the school’s library or website.
3. Story telling: based on photographs or videos that students are interested in and not any photograph or picture that the teacher chooses and might find interesting, but it is otherwise to the students. In other words let the students bring their own lives to the classroom, talk and write about it.
4. Drawing as early writing: Students can draw the word they have learned and write a simple sentence under it and have their own drawing notebooks which would be like a personal dictionary book for each.
5. Dialogue Journals: The teacher usually starts with the first prompt by writing a message to the students including some personal information about her and asking them to relate to what she has said. This triggers students to write and enhances them to talk about their own experiences and the dialogue goes on and thus the students are encouraged to write more in order to know more about the teacher and to know her feedback on what they have written about their own experiences in life.
All these activities are greatly beneficial and I think that most of them could be easily adopted in our Arabic classes.
2. The second session started at 10:15 am to 11:15 am. The presenter was Nancy Commins, Consultant, Denver, CO. The topic was “Mix and Match”: An Awesome Strategy for Any Classroom. It was held in Prince of Wales Room.
This session focused on oral activities and the goal is to get students talk. The strategy rotates around more interaction and acting on in class. All the activities focused on the concept to be learned (cognitive), how to talk about that concept (listening and speaking), and interaction with text (reading and writing). This approach believes that in order for students to become better writers, students should become better talkers. Its goal should be to get students talking more and in longer sentences so the words are in their heads when they want to write them.
Activities: All the activities depended on cards and the concept of mix and match. The cards used in each activity could be used in many different ways and could be used for different purposes such as:
1. Alphabetical order
2. Practicing new vocabulary
3. Forming sentences
4. Practicing grammar and new structures.
This session was full of sharing as most of the attendees shared in the activities and it was really lively. The presenter is greatly proficient and her session was greatly beneficial to me.
All the activities could be used in our Arabic classes as all could be used for simple vocabulary words or more complicated and developed concepts.
3. The third session was held in Kensington CT. from 11:30 to 12:30. It was titled “Favorite Games for Vocabulary Development “. The presenters were three: Sarah Bingaman, Elizabeth Buckley, and Claire Buckley.
The session started interesting and informative, but then it turned to be boring as it only focused on listing a group of games that could be used for vocabulary development.
It started by stating why teachers play games: promote interaction among peers, encourage risk taking, reduce stress, provide multisensory experience, provide practice in questioning, teach cooperative behavior, allow children to demonstrate intelligence before oral language is developed, promote listening and attention behavior and finally reduce silent reading.
After that one of the presenters stressed on the idea of making game behavior explicit to all students and allowing the students to make a list of those rules and instructions.
Then they talked about what a good game is and stated that it should be easy to follow, fast paced, visually appealing and interactive.
The rest of the session was, to me, merely a listing of the games that could be used in class. Most of them are commercial while few are teacher made Some of the games mentioned were Apples to Apples, Uno, Quiddler, Secret Square, Picture Bingo and Memory games.
The resource given is : www.fcrr.org/curriculum/studentcenteractivities.htm
Florida Centre for Reading Research
4. Finally, the last session was held in Westmont Room, tilted “Motivation and Activities for All English Language Learners “. The presenter was Daniel Fuentes who made the attendees share from the first moment by reading the handout given about motivational games for every ELL students. Then he started his first activity on teaching Japanese numbers from one to 10 and it was really a great activity and his interaction with all the attendees made the session greatly lively and very beneficial .
Another activity was an activity on identifying words on the language you teach and it was done as a competition between two students. The first who circles three of the words said by the teacher is the winner.
All the activities of this session could be applied in Arabic and it will be. Unfortunately, I couldn’t continue the session to the end as I had to leave to catch the Metro going back to Chicago!!
In a nutshell, I could say that out of the four sessions I attended , three were greatly beneficial and triggering while one wasn’t . This 75 % indicates that this conference was a well organized one and that the speakers and presenters were really well prepared and are of high proficiency. Most of the activities and methodologies could be applied for teaching Arabic. Thus, I will make use of most of these activities in our Arabic lessons.
Thanks,
Mrs. El Sakhawy
Does Belonging contradict humanity
Fatma El Sakhawy
Date: January 17th, 2009
Does Belonging Contradict Humanity
This question has been the issue that has occupied most of my thinking for the past three weeks when the War on Gaza started!! Before asking or judging people, I asked myself this question? I tried to think rationally about what is happening in Gaza and asked myself as an educator and a rational person: Is that war on Gaza justified? Do the Palestinians and Hamas deserve what is happening to them? What if what was happening to the Palestinian civilians was happening to the Israelis instead? Would that be justified by me? What should I tell my students and the people who ask me about Hamas and the struggle taking place there? Don’t the Israelis have the right to live in peace as well?
Yes, any human on Earth has the right to live in peace and to taste, smell, and feel dignity and pride. Israelis have the right to live and to preserve their rights!! But this is the question: What are their rights? Is it their right to occupy the land of others, kill them and kick them out of their land because of religious beliefs? Is it their right to siege them and to deprive them of living as humans who have the right to move, trade, build, get educated, and live free!! Who deprived Palestinians of their freedom in the first place? I think it is not the right of anyone to think that in order for me to live, others must perish? This is what they are doing to those who strive for freedom and dignity. I think it is the right of Israelis to live, but not at the expense of others.
I thought: if you see Fatma an Israeli child or woman wounded savagely and the Palestinians troops is hindering the ambulance from stepping forward to take him would you accept it although you see them as occupiers? Certainly, I would not and would never justify this or accept it. Armies can fight; they can enter into combat for a cause as many nations have done in order to achieve a certain rightful goal , but killing civilians brutally and depriving them from all their rights are not justifiable by any means!
Thus, I concluded that my belonging to the Arab world is not blinding me from seeing the truth. My conclusion was proven true when I went last week to two Palestinian activities: One was a film titled ‘Gaza Strip”, followed by a discussion and questions session and another was the Chicago rally to support the people of Gaza. In both situations, I found that belonging and humanity don’t contradict!! I found Americans, Jews and non - Arabs supporting the Palestinian Cause and are against the brutality and the no response of the civilized governments towards the massacres taking place there!! I was greatly touched as I saw a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel. I was happy that my judgment wasn’t biased for my own people. I was happy to know that humanity and being humane still exists in many people’s minds and hearts!! This is what I have seen in America from some Americans whom I respect and highly value their stance and courage!! I saw other Americans who came to know and to listen to the other side and to know the other face of the coin. These are great people as well who have a thirst to know and they believe that in order to judge and to value things, they should learn the truth from both sides. Moreover, I started blaming the Arabs who should all unite together and have a word and a respectable stance in order for others to listen to them and respond to their demands. Only then would we, as Arabs, be able to make the world listen to us. It is a world of power and strength. It is a world of balances and calculations. If our decrees, stances, and policies affect the world, then at that time we will only be listened to and respected.
In the Rally, I have seen how the police are organizing the streets and protecting the demonstrators and others. How freedom of expression is the right of every citizen and human even if his stance completely opposes the government and most of the population. There, I have seen people of different nationalities, Arabs and non Arabs, protesting against what is happening in Gaza. I have listened to Arabs, American Jews and American human rights activists, White, black, Hispanic, speaking against the brutality of what is happening in Gaza, asking the American government to take a stance and respond to what is right and ethical. Children, women and civilians are killed in hundreds and some governments are still acting as if no civilians are being killed. I saw people protesting against, not only Israel’s policy, but also against America’s and Egypt’s policy. Here, I stopped and thought: America’s policy is governed by its people’s stances and public opinion!!! In other words, America is following a policy that is governed by what is best for its people while my government is not. I cannot blame America’s policy, but what I really blame is my government whose stance is totally against what its citizens and public opinion want and feel!!! Here, I remembered what would happen in my country if that demonstration against the government’s policy took place in Egypt with all these demands protesting against the government’s stance and policy towards this brutal war. I really smiled and cried and felt bitterness that is beyond description!!!!!! I smiled because I was here in America as a foreigner and still I had the right to be protected while protesting against the policy of the United States government!!! I cried because as an Egyptian, I knew what would have our police force done to us back in Egypt if we were protesting against our government policy and I cried because I felt shame ; shame from my government’s policy against our brothers and sisters in Palestine !!!! I asked myself what would be my feeling as an Egyptian if what was happening in Gaza was happening in Egypt and the Arab countries took the same stance that my government has taken towards the crisis??? I cried because the people of Palestine are killed in hundreds and no one is responding, but thousands here or there. I cried because the news here is really biased and the truth and the whole truth is not well displayed. However, it is our mistake as Arabs and no one is to blame but us, the ARABS!!!!
Furthermore, I concluded that the Arab Americans who live here in America and have become American Citizens should unite their efforts despite their countries of origin differences and should work as one entity so that their demands would be listened to and respected. They should be more proactive and should contribute more in building America’s economy and participate more in all American activities in order to be listened to. I am telling them that your presence here is an asset that you should value and know that you will never be listened to in America, your country, except if you work actively and become fully integrated in your communities. The road here, in America, is paved while in our Arab countries the roads still need a lot of effort and work as freedom of expression is still a right that we are trying to gain and where our voices are still unheard!!!!
To conclude, as a teacher and a human, I felt that my role towards my students is to open their eyes towards what is taking place and to make them realize that there are always many faces for the truth. I shouldn’t be biased while talking about this crisis but should present the two opinions and try to make them know that they always have to listen to all sides and then develop their own stances. This is what we, Mrs. Ali and I, did. We knew that some teachers in our school have talked to their students about this current hot issue and we presented to our students the issue from our perspective, trying as much as we can to be non – prejudiced and to present facts as we know them and ask them to listen to the news in order to know what is going on the world around them which surely affects them here in one way or the other!!!
Thanks,
Fatma
A Word of Gratitude!!!
Fatma El Sakhawy
Date : Friday, January 23rd
A Word of Gratitude!!
How great a human’s feeling is when others appreciate what he \she is doing!!! The least one can do is to feel grateful and highly appreciative for those people who have fueled his soul with great energy and enthusiasm!!! No human is an island entire in itself is one of my favorite quotes that have been highly manifested through some of the events that happened to me in the past two weeks.
The first is the great feeling I felt after the visit of Mr. Davis, the head of the world language department in CPS, to two of my Arabic classes in Peck Elementary School. It was a feeling of gratitude, great satisfaction, pride, and happiness. There are many reasons behind all these feelings that clustered inside of me and gave me a great push that I have been in need of. The first reason is that his evaluation to my way of teaching was greatly positive. He expressed that he wished that I could be here for more years to come in order to give an example for other teachers of how a teacher should be in class with her students. To tell you the truth, I was very happy, but still felt that this might be a little bit exaggerated and a great compliment, from such a man, as a push for the program and as a trigger to me to go on giving and doing the best I can in such circumstances that are not that easy!!? Nevertheless, his words made me happy, but what made me greatly satisfied and proud is that today at the CPS World Language Workshop, I found two of his associates and aides telling me the same thing and repeating what he have told me about my teaching!! At that point, I really felt proud, triggered and highly motivated. I knew that what he has told me had no compliment in it and that this is what he truly believed!!!
The second reason is that it has been a long time since I have been praised as a teacher by anyone and that motivation has been lacking or nearly nil in my life. It is really great to be observed by someone for eighty minutes and to feel that he has seen you as a teacher not on paper but in reality and that the reality he has seen has greatly touched him. As I said above, although I try to convince myself sometimes of the opposite, no human can be an entire island in itself!!
Also, another thing in my life, in the past 20 days , that has lifted my morale is feeling that I am benefiting greatly from others as much as I am trying to benefit some people. I am giving and taking . Real life is a process of continuous interaction and giving and taking. The more you give the more you expect to take. The more you work to earn what you are yearning for, the more you achieve what you have been striving hard to attain. I have come here to America to give and to take in return what adds to my existence and career. In the past 20 days or less, I have gone to two professional development events which I really consider the best throughout a long period. I felt that as a teacher, I am becoming more open to new techniques and am exposed to great knowledge that will add to my experience and to my existence. To me, teaching equals a vital part of my existence and thus developing this essential part is really a great asset that I have gained through the Bilingual conference I have gone to and the CBS workshop I have attended today. These two great experiences have helped me to refresh my mind and to add a great deal of ammunition that would keep me going for some time. This doesn’t mean that the methodologies or the activities I have been exposed to through these two events are new to me; on the contrary, many of these are methods, techniques, and activities that have been practiced by me and implemented throughout my career as a teacher. However, I was in need to get in touch with real professionals and experts who would make me remember that it is not important what technique or method you apply, but what is important is your spirit as a teacher who is really determined to interact and benefit her audience . What really is important is the love of the teacher towards her job and her students who are the real output of her hard work. All the input a teacher might try to convey to her students would be worthless, if that input lacks the enthusiasm, love, and eagerness a teacher must possess . This was greatly manifested in front of me in these two events by the experts and really talented teachers who have been able to convey this message to most or all attendees, I suppose. This is the message they have succeeded in relying and that was, to me, like a spark that have lightened my path and added a lot of understanding to what has been going on for a while. I am really grateful to all those experts who have appreciated their attendees and whom it happened that I was one of them. Thanks to all of them and to their real love, respect, and appreciation for that great profession. I love my students, I love teaching and love the feeling that great job generates in me!!! I wish I would have the power and the strength to go on and to pave the way for others who would come after me. Love your profession, appreciate it, and cherish it are the three pieces of advice that I certainly tell myself and will keep on telling them to others. The moment I feel that these three elements are not there, I think I would quit that job because it would be unfair to me and to my dear students not to feel its importance and worthiness!!
I would also like to express my deepest gratitude to my students who have been conveying their appreciation of what I am doing through their work , their interaction with me outside class, and through their eagerness, which sometimes I feel from some of them, to talk with me and to me. I started feeling that some of them and fortunately the number is increasing have developed some link between me and them. I really love that feeling because after all I am doing all this for myself and for them. It is great to feel that you are having an impact on others and that your care towards them is met with appreciation and mutual positive feeling. I hope that the number would keep on increasing and that would be my best gift that I would take back home and the greatest memories that would live in my mind and heart for years to come. I really thank my students who have felt the love and care I do feel for them and would certainly never forget how great they were in sensing the importance of what I am trying to teach them. Honesty, faithfulness, and love are the keys to real mutual feelings; this is what I am trying to teach them and I think if I leave a good impact on some of them, this would be the great present that I will always remember as part of my illuminative experience in the USA.
Briefly, I would say that the appreciation I felt these past days have been the fuel that has energized my engine and it helped greatly in supplying me with the power needed. I need that as much as everyone on this world needs it. Appreciation is a motivation that is great in its impact on people as we are humans after all. I really thank all who have participated in making me regain my confidence and the worthiness of what I am doing!! No man on this earth can live without feeling that what he is doing is really essential for life to flourish and is vital for the development and prosperity of others; at least this is what I believe and this is how my life was shaped , have been shaped , is shaped and will be shaped accordingly!!!!
Thanks to all who have participated with a word, or a gesture, or just a look of appreciation on making me feel that what I am doing is worthy of being done and continued!!
Millions of thanks,
Fatma El Sakhawy
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