today

alright.. first of all, i'm doing bien, al-hamdu liLlah.

Let's see..

highlight lesson: Weather and Seasons. When we discussed the difference between rain and hail I had them do two things: First I had the class tap their fingers on their desks and I said, "okay, that's the sound of rain." Then I had them tap their pencils on their desk and I said, "and that would be the sound of hail." Then I continued, "hail, rain, hail, rain".... the sounds they made was amazing, al-Hamdu liLlah.

Oh, I just remembered one of my slower students did a worksheet w/out any of my help today, I made the whole class applause his work! I went to the front of the class, and said, "we all have to do a special applause for so and so, he did an excellent job on his worksheet!" The whole class was clapping for him, and his smile bounced off the walls it was great. al-Hamdu liLlah.

Today they had a raffle for the teachers. I was the first number they called, and I won a lotion set.. yay! They did it infront of the students, and when I won, about 5 to 10 students rushed and hugged me! Children make me feel good. Between me and you, I feel the raffle winners were rigged... I saw the shaykh going to the office asking them to please have a raffle for the teachers after I had done him a favor. But shh, that's just between me and you.

-smiles-

Today, I didn't get home until 7 pm, it was a very long day. I had to re-arrange some things in my classroom and hang up some of their work, and organize papers, books, etc. I'm so exhausted.

One thing that is troubling me is my class clown, honestly, he makes me laugh, but we have so much to do! Today, I gave him his work book and sent him to the office and told him, "go finish pages 89-90 there, and when you're done you can come back." He finished, and came back. I told him, "I'm serious, this work is important, you cannot be silly." subHan Allah, this child makes my heart happy, he's always smiling... always! Even when he's in trouble!!! It's hilarious. It's hard for me to be serious with him, but I must... I must... unfortunately.

...

I don't know when the people who are supposed to observe my class are supposed to come, I think maybe tomorrow. We'll see. I'm not worried, or anxious at all. I have parents come in and sit almost all the time. I'll just pretend they are parents, or the principal who walks in, and khayr. I have no reason to stress, I'm doing the best I can and if they have criticism, then I will gladly take it. There's nothing wrong with constructive feedback.

al-Hamdu liLlah for everything.

Allahu akbar.