A Class Of His Own

When I started my Year 3 class this year, I was told by the centre’s assistant that I have one hyperactive student. I’ve had special times with these special students throughout my 10 years at the centre, so it’s neither new nor scary to me. I was pretty sure I could deal with one more.

Luqman is definitely hyper. He does not sit at one place, sometimes he’s on the floor, a lot of times he sits on the table and other times he stands, all while doing some singing or chanting of words that does not make any sense to me or any of the children. I did not handle the situation well the first class I had with him. I let him got to me.

This bespectacled boy made me worry. I didn’t know what best way to teach him. All my past experience working with hyper students doesn’t seem to apply with Luqman. He’s a class of his own. I know I have to find solution fast before he gets bored with my class and before I stress my self out beyond repair.

It came to me on the day I was to teach his class that second week. He didn’t seem to respond to any of my scolding, cajoling or reprimands. Nope, it didn’t (and still doesn’t) work with this seemingly naughty boy. So what I did was to conduct the class as usual, but not before I asked one of the boys to get something for me from the teacher’s assistant. Children love that. And of course, Luqman, despite his antics, is just a child.

To get Luqman to copy from the whiteboard is, yes you’ve guessed it, such a pain. But that day, after his classmate presented me with the pen I asked him to get, I asked Luqman to get another pen from the assistant. I could imagine how perplexed Kak Lina was. Gingerly, singing something I could not make out, he walked out of the class and a few minutes later came back with the pen, a wide smile on his face. After thanking him, I continued the lesson, ignoring him most of the time. But from the corner of my eye I saw that he was writing!

Off course, the singing, the shifting from chair to table to floor are still very much what Luqman likes to do, but at the end of my class, he will submit his book, with correct answers. When I got past that weird noises and endless moving, I could see a bright young boy. Yes, I’ve found a solution to make this special boy learn something from my class. But without knowing it, he has provided me with an invaluable lesson as well.