Friday 4^th October 2013

I’m not as exhausted as I was last week at this time. I’ve somehow managed to find a way round the intense challenge of teaching classes and 1 and 2 with only a thin dividing wall which is often not even a wall. It was all credit to the children who knuckled down and got on with the job in hand.

We did the affirmation ‘I am very creative,’ often before they began writing their stories. We also did some loosening up exercise to get the creative juices flowing. Most of them love it. I’ve explained to them that creativity needs fun.

I was amazed that they didn’t hear the bell for break, and even though I asked them three times if they wanted to take a break, not a single child answered.

What I observed today in this class of 12-14 year-olds was true creative energy at work. They had entered that zone where time does not exist, where they and their characters were so intricately entwined that the fact that a whole school of children playing outside did not register with them.

They put their hands up frequently to ask for the spelling of words and were often impatient for me to spell the word quickly so that they could get back to their stories.

‘It doesn’t get any better than this,’ I said quietly to one of the new volunteers who had been sent to observe me.

Work is progressing upstairs to get the classrooms ready for Monday. Two floors are now concreted, and when I left the walls were being plastered. The tarpaulin had been removed in preparation for the zinc to be put in place.

Monday may bring a very different experience, but nothing can take away the sheer pleasure of watching children being totally absorbed in creation.