The Ball Toss

I was telling a colleague the other day about my Literacy class.

“We have certain expectations,” I said.

Will laughed.

“Say no more. I know exactly what you’re talking about,” he said.

It’s true, isn’t it? We have unchecked assumptions about our students, often taking it as a given that certain things about education are obvious. They aren’t, of course, and teachers, especially Literacy teachers, are reminded daily that, along with ABCs and learning how to learn, we also teach students about classroom culture and Canadian culture.

When I first started teaching Literacy four years ago, I was gobsmacked when students didn’t know how to use a pencil sharpener, how to use a three-hole punch, that a pencil needed to be sharpened, how to orient a piece of paper or a notebook, and…well, so, so many things. These things no longer faze me. 

You’d think I would have learned by now to have no expectations.

I proceeded to tell Will about the ball toss activity my Literacy class did that morning. 

Simple, easy-peasy, I thought, grabbing the small rubber basketball from the cupboard and walking to the circle my students were standing in. 

The first sign that my expectations were about to be dashed was seeing all the students holding hands. It took me a few seconds to realize what I was seeing. Do I tell them, no, no, no, I thought? Instead, I froze this wonderful moment in my mind. 

We are studying the alphabet. I explained that we’d toss the ball to each other. The student tossing the ball would say a letter and the student receiving the ball would say the next letter, and then toss the ball to another student, and so on. 

“Okay?” I said, giving the thumbs up. 

“Okay,” the students said, giving a thumbs up and smiling. 

“A,” I said, tossing the ball to Shireen.

She caught the ball. 

“A,” said Shireen, and then she said, “B,” handing the ball to the student beside her. 

It went like that. The students did not toss the ball. Instead, they handed it to the person beside them. They said both their letter and the next one. Then the ball got to Abdullah, who had a deer in the headlights look. The other students told him to say the letter. He did. They told him to say the next letter, pointing to the alphabet flashcards on the wall behind him. Eventually he said the next letter. Eventually he handed the ball to the next student. 

I decided to go with the flow. Instead of tossing the ball, the students handed it to the person beside them. I told them to say only their letter. They nodded. I then said we wanted to pass the ball faster and faster with no pauses. I made a spinning motion with my hand. A few of the students spun around. Eventually, the students passed the ball along, said only their letter, and stood in place. No twirling. 

Then we tried tossing the ball. Shireen held her hands up and ducked when the ball came to her. I had demonstrated the underhand toss, but some students threw the ball, which bounced off a few faces. I was afraid I was traumatizing my students. I hoped my Program Manager didn’t walk in. 

Abdullah wasn’t sure what to do. The ball bounced off his chest and rolled across the floor. From there, the ball toss turned into a chase, with several students running after the rolling ball. 

Along with having no expectations, I’ve also learned, at least I hope I have, that classes, like life, often don’t go as planned, and that one of the most powerful skills a teacher can have is flexibility. Oh, and the ability to laugh. Also, a Nerf ball helps. 

I was getting a little miffed that the ball toss hadn’t gone as planned. The students, on the other hand, were laughing all through it. Smiling, too, when they returned to their seats. 

No expectations. Flexibility. Laughter. Smiles. Use Nerf balls. 

The students aren’t the only ones who are learning. 

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All names used here are fictional. 

Image source: www.bigstockphoto.com