The story of one rogue University Lecturer in the Middle East surreptitiously ensnaring her students in the art of tasking!

That's right, I have absolute power over my students n' I'm gonna use that power to
to get my task on! N' ain't nothin' that nobody can do about it! Ooooooooh the power!

Plus, this is an unusually small class (2 students) so they were less likely to rebel. :)

The students were informed upon arrival today that we would be doing a unique writing exercise. They were to choose a spot outside anywhere on campus and write in silence about everything around us for 30 mins.

Their reactions were mixed. On one hand the idea of leaving the classroom was somewhat exciting (this isn't done much here). On the other hand, for most of our students this is their first writing course ever. Writing isn't easy and particularly not easy in a foreign language.

I thought about taking them into my confidence and explaining to them it was "all for the task" and how cool that was. I refrained. As one of the youngest teachers on campus, I gotta at least try to maintain a sense of respectability.

Rather it was presented as a very important endeavor designed to unlock their inner thoughts and feelings. Plus to show them how beneficial it can be, I their great and fearless leader, would write along with them. (convincing aren't I?)

So this is how it went down:

I asked the girl, Iman, if she would pick a spot which she did.

Appropriately she choose the "Assembly Point"

The odd part of the assembly point is that it is in an odd isolated part of campus near the road that leads from the main entrance to the teacher's parking lot. I would bet money we were the first to have ever assembled here. That's right... we are just pioneering fools! :)


This is the view from the assembly point (when you crop out the aforementioned road)


This is our little spot under the tree. It was quite pleasant with light breeze and birds chirping in the distance.


These are my students Iman and Faisal hard at work (I completed the task before taking these pictures... I really should have had them take one of me too, but I forgot!)




After the class they shared with me their thoughts. They were deliciously excited to do so.

Thoughts from Iman
She talked about the beauty and majesty of the mountains of Oman which lead to thoughts of a minority population in Oman called the "Mountain people" she waxed poetic about their simplicity of life and made a rather impressive comparative analysis of urban life.

Thoughts from Faisal
Faisal on the other hand had something already on his mind apparently. He wrote at length about friendships. "What does it mean to be a true friend to someone?" he rhetorically asked.
"It is that you agree on most things, but not everything in order to add spice to the life".

When I asked him what he wrote previously that brought him to these thoughts his remarks were "Please Miss Rachel, that are very personal and private may I keep them for myself?"

In deed, Faisal you may. :)

Thoughts from my stream of consciousness.
"I'm sitting here watching my students write, their hesitation obvious and palpable. However, in the past few minutes I have seen their pens start to furiously scribble their mind's treasures. While I remember doing a similar exercise in high school I certainly never had to do it in Arabic or any other language for that matter! I have a swell of admiration for their dedication.

I see their eyes on fire now! Faisal is smiling while Iman has in intensity to her! I like to think that my insistence of independent thought rather than memorization is helping to unlock their minds. I am probably giving myself too much credit, but for the moment it is deeply satisfying.

What probably seemed foreign and strange, at first, will hopefully be a liberating tool in many areas of their lives.

With my anthropologist background my life in the middle east is enriched by the moments I can be the "engaged observer". I often find myself trying to see things through the paradigm of my students. This is no easy task but a journey I am enjoying.

Today in just the past half hour, I have been observing the slow transition from skepticism (but Miss Rachel tell us what YOU want us to write about!) to watching them tap into the inner well of creativity that has always been discourage and denied them in their previous academic experiences.

As someone who grew up in San Francisco, with extremely liberal parents I can't imagine ever being discouraged to be a free thinker. In a small way I am passing on my parents legacy (suppose they are looking down on us right now with pride? Perhaps!)

(the next part of my writings are centered around thoughts of my parents who both passed in the past few years. What they would think about my choice to live and work in Oman? Would they be proud of me? Or would they just be more scared that on the map I look too close to Iraq? My heart began to ache as I thought about how much I wish I could speak to them about it. But as Faisal said "That are very personal private may I keep them for myself?" I think I will... just for today.)