Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Tennis Anyone?

Wednesday, 28 September 2005

This morning in class, S, my only sixth grader, asked me if I would come and play tennis with him in the afternoon. Last week, I had noticed his tennis racket in his backpack and mentioned how one day we should play. I told him I would check with my dad, and then see if I could meet him after school.

After lunch with my uncles and dad (Uncle Gary brought over yummy Vietnamese food), I went to Kahala. I showed up on the court, with my shorts and t-shirt, sunglasses, racket and tennis balls. I noticed S and his brother, a third grader who's also in my class, hitting balls back and forth. I asked, "Okay, are we ready to play?" They both looked at me like, "Who is this woman, and is she talking to us??" I took off my sunglasses, and they said, "Oh, it's you Miss Mau!" They were both surprised I showed up.

They were terrible. Balls flying everywhere, over the fence into the field, over the fence into the basketball court, and over to the other guys' court. But, it was fun. And, it was great for S and I to connect more since he tends to be a behavior problem in his sixth grade class, and needs attention. They finally had to leave because their mom called (and they weren't actually supposed to be out. Whoops!) to tell them to come home. Hopefully, we'll get to play again soon.

1 comment:

Teresa said...

What a cute story. I bet their eyes nearly bugged out of their heads when they saw it was you!
While we can't make that personal connection with every student, we know it can strengthen the trust and comfort bond that is the necessary foundation for teaching.