Some things you have to believe, but others are puzzles, puzzling Rebecca.
Midnight in Paris was very good, and so was Hugo, which I watched with Adam tonight. I was surprised by how sincerely feel-good and touching it was, without being too sappy. I hope I can stick to my goal of watching at least one child actress movie a month for the rest of the year. I can't believe I'm posting this and encouraging her craziness, but Sara decided to braid my hair while we watched Midnight in Paris, and this was the result. Believe me, it looked so much worse in person!
I couldn't bear to post a photo any bigger than this. UGH!
Anyway, now onto a more serious subject. This morning, we had another session of the temple's Hebrew school.
Hebrew school this weekend had even more bumps in it than last weekend. For the second week in a row, a guest teacher managed to give a boring lesson on a holiday as fun as Purim! It was not all Rabbi W's fault. Only one kid showed up for Hebrew school this weekend; that was bad news by itself, since when you're a kid, a lot of things that feel fun when other kids are doing it feel silly when you're the only kid doing it. Even worse, the one kid who came happens to be a very quiet, painfully shy little boy. It's always like pulling teeth to get him to talk in class or give an answer, even when he knows the answer. Now factor in Rabbi W (who can definitely be on the boring side, even with adults) and having no other kids to call on for the answers. It was positively painful, and I felt so sorry for that poor boy. I will admit here (but not anywhere else) that I tried to hijack the lesson away from Rabbi W and make it more interesting. But besides having only student, there was also only one regular teacher there -- me. The cool, fun teacher who makes class interesting wasn't able to come. That boy was probably was disappointed as I was.
I've been beating myself up over it. I wish I had prepared a fun Purim project and just taken over from Rabbi W. Better that than to have the kid uncomfortable and bored out of his skull. More than anything, I do not want Hebrew school to be something any of the kids dread coming to. I want them to look forward to it. I've worked with students who dreaded class before (do I sound nostalgic for the Lycée Européen yet?) and it is NO FUN.
After Torah study, I did a quick rehash of the same Purim lesson with the daughter of a woman in our Torah study group, to keep her occupied while her mom talked to Rabbi W. She was inquisitive, asked questions, and wanted to clack all the groggers, look at every picture in the temple's (very old) illustrated megilla, and crayon in her own coloring page of Haman. She copied down a few Hebrew letters without any prompting from me, and I don't think she's ever even studied Hebrew! Unfortunately, for complicated reasons, she isn't a member of our Hebrew school. I would love to have that girl in my class! Especially today, when she would've some of the pressure off that poor boy to carry the whole lesson on his shoulders.
After Hebrew school, the adults had Torah study. Rabbi W asked me to talk to a lady in our congregation who's in the conversion process about the beit din and mikvah. It was so surreal for me, because it feels like just yesterday, I was the one asking questions about that, not answering them.
I couldn't bear to post a photo any bigger than this. UGH!
Anyway, now onto a more serious subject. This morning, we had another session of the temple's Hebrew school.
Hebrew school this weekend had even more bumps in it than last weekend. For the second week in a row, a guest teacher managed to give a boring lesson on a holiday as fun as Purim! It was not all Rabbi W's fault. Only one kid showed up for Hebrew school this weekend; that was bad news by itself, since when you're a kid, a lot of things that feel fun when other kids are doing it feel silly when you're the only kid doing it. Even worse, the one kid who came happens to be a very quiet, painfully shy little boy. It's always like pulling teeth to get him to talk in class or give an answer, even when he knows the answer. Now factor in Rabbi W (who can definitely be on the boring side, even with adults) and having no other kids to call on for the answers. It was positively painful, and I felt so sorry for that poor boy. I will admit here (but not anywhere else) that I tried to hijack the lesson away from Rabbi W and make it more interesting. But besides having only student, there was also only one regular teacher there -- me. The cool, fun teacher who makes class interesting wasn't able to come. That boy was probably was disappointed as I was.
I've been beating myself up over it. I wish I had prepared a fun Purim project and just taken over from Rabbi W. Better that than to have the kid uncomfortable and bored out of his skull. More than anything, I do not want Hebrew school to be something any of the kids dread coming to. I want them to look forward to it. I've worked with students who dreaded class before (do I sound nostalgic for the Lycée Européen yet?) and it is NO FUN.
After Torah study, I did a quick rehash of the same Purim lesson with the daughter of a woman in our Torah study group, to keep her occupied while her mom talked to Rabbi W. She was inquisitive, asked questions, and wanted to clack all the groggers, look at every picture in the temple's (very old) illustrated megilla, and crayon in her own coloring page of Haman. She copied down a few Hebrew letters without any prompting from me, and I don't think she's ever even studied Hebrew! Unfortunately, for complicated reasons, she isn't a member of our Hebrew school. I would love to have that girl in my class! Especially today, when she would've some of the pressure off that poor boy to carry the whole lesson on his shoulders.
After Hebrew school, the adults had Torah study. Rabbi W asked me to talk to a lady in our congregation who's in the conversion process about the beit din and mikvah. It was so surreal for me, because it feels like just yesterday, I was the one asking questions about that, not answering them.