Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Kindergarten geniuses

Salam (PEACE)!

So, I'm dedicating this post to my mother... who is just, subhannaAllah, amazing! Everyday, I watch her take notes on multiple different books of tafseer (islamic hermeneutics), seerah (life/history of Muhammad, peace be upon him) and so on... It amazes me.... it shocks me... it confuses me... but most of all it amuses me.
Do you know what she does with the material gathered??? She teaches at an Islamic montessori school.... where here students are between the ages of 3-6 years old... And she teaches them materials made for scholars.... and the even more amazing thing is this... they learn it!!! actually internalize and understand it!!!!
That's how I want to be when I become a professor (obviously, my age group is very different but still). It just hit me so strongly today, as I was watching her prepare her lesson plans. I mean seriously??? She's teaching little kids things made for college age folk.
and it hit me... it's never too early to teach your kids, no matter the subject or however advanced it may seem, as long as you know (or learn) how to deliver it to them in a way they'd understand.
now think about all those kids growing up nowaday, so underchallenged that their potential slips down the drains... not only that... but even when they are challenged, the teachers are presenting it to them in a way that they cannot understand....
my question is this... is our education system actually educating students at the levels that they could learn at?? Or are we just teaching them with the wrong methods, not truly understanding the students and therefore being unable to convey or articulate the knowledge to them???
I was amazed, truly amazed, when I realized all this research my mom does for a kindergarten (more or less) class... I never realized how much I might have learned from her growing up if she was my teacher (obviously given that she's my mom she can't exactly teach me in school). And now I wonder, if one woman puts sooo much effort in teaching 3-6 year olds... what would happen to the education system if all teachers did the same?
Throughout my life, my mom's former students always used to come to me and be like... your mom is an amazing teacher... we love her... we've learned so much from her... ect. And I guess I'm jealous I didn't get to be in a formal classroom with her. But this is my suggestion for all parents, teachers, professors, instructors ect, please really don't underestimate your students due to their ages (or other things)... Prepare your lesson plans, like you're writing a thesis... do the research from the hard sources, and teach it in a format that the students would understand the language of...
you know... i've recently talked to my mother's students, and they're like kindergarten geniuses, I totally respect them... And I really hope that I can help them grow throughout life, so that they can one day move past me and excel to great heights. (i'm not trying to be cheesy... i'm serious). I hope that each one of them surpass the best in society now, because right now, I feel like they're already smarter than me, mashaAllah (which kinda means, how great is the Will of God.
I guess I'll stop there...
but all I have to say is this. I love my mom... and I see how much she puts in for her students, regardless of their age (she's taught between kindergarten through highschool ages groups).. and I really hope that when I become a professor in the future, that all my presentations, lectures, discussions, essays, papers, books and articles are all written in a language people understand, but filled with the content of scholars. Everyone should have access to the 'high up' knowledge... that's why we need dedicated liasons to deliver that information.

salam
\\//
PEACE
-reem

2 comments:

controlled chaos said...

Awwwwwwwwww
ur mom is cool :)

Artistic Logic said...

that's amazing! i have a lot of respect for teachers