Whatever could it mean?
I kid about this, but sometimes I do wonder...kids' drawings can reveal a lot of what's on their mind. For instance, there's this kid, "Farmer" who in the beginning, was one of the most troublesome kids in the class- purposefully just scribbling all over his paper just to irk me, saying other kids hit him so he can get a sticker- once he figured out the whole positive reinforcement thing, pissing on himself so that he wouldn't have to wait to use the bathroom. I tell you this kid is wicked and conniving by nature. He's a good student now, but I don't think he'll ever lose that bad nature of his. It's lucky that he's got a kindergarden crush on Shene- sometimes, I use that against him, though he doesn't know it. He doesn't seem to realize that adults can be even more conniving them he. Anyway, the interesting thing about Farmer is, he has a major habit of scrawling his name along with select others all over his worksheets. Usually, he'll write the names of those that sit at his own table. Yesterday, when I switched him to a different table, he wrote the names of the kids at his new table all over his math worksheet.
Whatever could it mean?
For the first few months, whenever I gave out paper for them to draw on, the majority of them would draw a "happy face/sad face" list, a replica of the one I have on my board every day to reward good behavior and deter bad ones. Only in their list, they would write their own name under the happy face side like 5 times, and then the name of a typically badly behaved kid on the other side. Sometimes, they'd have fish and other drawings on the side, but this list would be the centerpiece of their artwork. It made me realize what a big deal it was for them. I sincerely hope I've widened their world a bit more since then. Can you imagine that list being your entire world? That's just sad. I've moved on to a star chart- giving stars to each table for being good, rather than to the individual. This group-rewarding system is definitely encouraging cooperative behavior, but I wonder how it's affecting their mentality?
They also like to draw me a lot, with slanted eyes, doing various things like taking a zebra for a walk. Man, they're so funny! Hoz in particular has become so irresistibly cute days, with his munchkin size and huge, open-mouthed grin, and his puppy-like playfulness. He's quite the acrobat too, throwing himself into cartwheels and break dance-like moves, so fearless for such a little guy. I ran into him a few minutes before school began the other day, so we walked to class together hand-in-hand, Hoz positively brimming with pride and happiness as he trotted next to his teacher. I love how they get so excited about seeing me on the outside- anywhere outside the classroom where they spend the majority of their day. I can't get over how small their world is.
KG has improved drastically since I got my new helper, Miss Valentina. It feels more like a partnership now because she actually enjoys being with the kids and playing with them, which my old helper never had the energy, patience, skill, nor desire for. I love going into my classroom to find all the kids crowded around her, uncharacteristically silent and entranced, as she relates a story to them in Kurdish. We make a good team.
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